CreatureData

African bullfrog

Pyxicephalus adspersus Tschudi, 1838

LCLeast Concernfrogs and toads

The African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus) is a species in the family Pyxicephalidae, order Anura. Recorded adults weigh about 1.4 kg. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus)
Photo: Steven G. Johnson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the African bullfrog

Weight
1.4 kgsrc for Weight
Length
up to 23.6 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Carnivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
30 years
Main food
arthropods, vertebratessrc for Main food
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
3,000 – 4,000src for Young per litter or clutch
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Active
By day (diurnal)src for Active
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the African bullfrog live?

Not recorded

What is the African bullfrog?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus), also known as the giant bullfrog or the South African burrowing frog, is a species of frog in the family Pyxicephalidae. It is also known as the pixie frog due to its scientific name. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and possibly the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has been extirpated from Eswatini. It has long been confused with the edible bullfrog (P. edulis), and species boundaries between them, including exact range limits, are not fully understood. Additionally, P. angusticeps of coastal East Africa only was revalidated as a separate species in 2013.

The natural habitat of the African bullfrog is moist to dry savanna, subtropical to tropical dry shrubland, intermittent freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, canals, and flooded ditches. It is among the largest anurans on the planet, sixth only to the goliath frog, the helmeted water toad, the Lake Junin frog, Blyth's river frog, and the cane toad.

From the Wikipedia article “African bullfrog” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_bullfrog&oldid=1380737298), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the African bullfrog endangered?

The African bullfrog is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the African bullfrog classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAmphibia
  4. orderAnura
  5. familyPyxicephalidae
  6. genusPyxicephalus
  7. SpeciesPyxicephalus adspersus Tschudi, 1838

Synonyms Bombinator adspersus, Pyxicephalus adspersus adspersus, Rana adspersa, Rana adspersa adspersa, Rana adspersus, Rana adspersus, Tomopterna adspersa

Other names and names in other languages (34)
  • Giant African bullfrogEnglish
  • Giant bullfrogEnglish
  • Giant bullfrogEnglish
  • Highveld bullfrogEnglish
  • South African burrowing frogEnglish
  • Tschudi's African bullfrogEnglish
  • GrootbrulpaddaAfrikaans
  • hrabatka drsnáCzech
  • Afrikanischer GrabfroschGerman
  • Afrikanischer OchsenfroschGerman
  • Gesprenkelter GrabfroschGerman
  • Rana Toro AfricanaSpanish
  • TunnelisammakkoFinnish
  • Crapaud buffle africainFrench
  • Grenouille taureau africaineFrench
  • afrikai ökörbékaHungarian
  • アフリカウシガエルJapanese
  • Afrikaanse brulkikkerDutch
  • Afrikaanse stierkikkerDutch
  • Goasnmx
  • letlametluNorthern Sotho
  • Buczek południowoafrykańskiPolish
  • Роющая лягушкаRussian
  • LentsoetaSouthern Sotho
  • Letlametlu le leholoSouthern Sotho
  • Lidzi lelinkhuluSwati
  • กบแอฟริกันบูลฟร็อกThai
  • leTlametloTswana
  • Letlametlo-phorogotlhoTswana
  • KhutlakuluTsonga
  • Ḓula muswonḓa muhuluVenda
  • IndubulekaziXhosa
  • 非洲牛箱頭蛙Chinese
  • Inkunzi yeseleZulu

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the African bullfrog

Other species in the same genus Pyxicephalus.

Beira bullfrog

Pyxicephalus angusticeps

PyxicephalidaeNo free photo yet

CompareAfrican bullfrog vs Edible bullfrogAfrican bullfrog vs Calabresi's bullfrogAfrican bullfrog vs Beira bullfrogAfrican bullfrog vs Beytell's bullfrog

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the African bullfrog?

An adult African bullfrog weighs 1.4 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the African bullfrog endangered?

The African bullfrog is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What does the African bullfrog eat?

Its recorded main food is arthropods and vertebrates.

What kind of animal is the African bullfrog?

The African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus) belongs to the family Pyxicephalidae in the order Anura.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-bullfrog

MLA

“African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-bullfrog.

BibTeX
@misc{african_bullfrog_2026,
  title = {African bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-bullfrog},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}