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Cacosternum capense Hewitt, 1925

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Photo of Cape Caco uploaded from iNaturalist.

Photo of Cape Caco uploaded from iNaturalist.

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Open encyclopedia reference

The Cape caco or Cape dainty frog (Cacosternum capense) is a species of frog in the family Pyxicephalidae.

It is endemic to South Africa.

Its natural habitats are Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, and canals and ditches.

It is threatened by habitat loss.

Wikipedia contributors, Cape caco; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T15:35:37.329545+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Cacosternum capense Hewitt, 1925
Name authority
Hewitt, 1925
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Amphibia
Order
Anura
Family
Pyxicephalidae
Genus
Cacosternum
Extinction status
Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classAmphibia
  9. orderAnura
  10. familyPyxicephalidae Bonaparte, 1850
  11. subfamilyCacosterninae Noble, 1931
  12. genusCacosternum Boulenger, 1887
  13. speciesCacosternum capense Hewitt, 1925

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Cacosternum. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Cacosternum aggestum Channing, Schmitz, Burger & Kielgast, 2013PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Cacosternum boettgeri (Boulenger, 1882)PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Cacosternum karooicum Boycott, de Villiers & Scott, 2002PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Cacosternum leleupi Laurent, 1950PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Cacosternum nanogularum Channing, Schmitz, Burger & Kielgast, 2013PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Cacosternum platys Rose, 1950PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Cacosternum striatum FitzSimons, 1947PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Cacosternum cederbergense Angus, Telford, Ping & Conradie, 2024PyxicephalidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 66 records assigned to Pyxicephalidae.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=664749 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:P6MQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.