Boettger's horned toad

Boettger's horned toad (Megophrys boettgeri), also known as Boettger's spadefoot toad or the pale-shouldered horned toad, is a species of toad found in southern and southeastern China (the northern border runs roughly from Sichuan in the west to Shanxi in the north and Zhejiang in the east) and north-eastern India (Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Assam). A closely related but probably as yet undescribed species in found in Tibet.[3] It is not certain that the Indian specimens belong to Megophrys boettgeri either.[1]

Boettger's horned toad
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Megophryidae
Genus: Megophrys
Species:
M. boettgeri
Binomial name
Megophrys boettgeri
(Boulenger, 1899)[2]
Synonyms
  • Leptobrachium boettgeri Boulenger, 1899
  • Xenophrys boettgeri (Boulenger, 1899)

The history of this species' discovery is highly international. It was described by George Albert Boulenger, a Belgian zoologist who made his career in the Natural History Museum, London. He named Megophrys boettgeri in honour of Oskar Boettger, a German zoologist, based on specimens collected by Irish ornithologist J. D. La Touche in Guadun village in Wuyishan, Fujian, China.[2]

Male Megophrys boettgeri grow to a snout-vent length of about 36 mm (1.4 in) and females to 43 mm (1.7 in).[4] They are dark grey or brown above, with symmetrical blackish markings and smooth skin with small scattered warts on the head and back.[2]

Megophrys boettgeri is a reasonably common species associated with riparian vegetation, hill streams and leaf-litter in evergreen forest habitats. These frogs breed in streams.[1] Tadpoles are 46 mm (1.8 in) in length.[4]

References
  1. Lau, Michael Wai Neng; Geng, Baorong; Gu, Huiqing; Dutta, Sushil; Borah, Mohini Mohan; Bordoloi, Sabitry (2004). "Megophrys boettgeri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2004: e.T57632A11667261. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T57632A11667261.en.
  2. Boulenger, George A. (1899). "On a collection of reptiles and batrachians made by Mr. J. D. La Touche in N.W. Fokien, China". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1899: 159–172.
  3. Frost, Darrel R. (2013). "Xenophrys boettgeri (Boulenger, 1899)". Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  4. Fei, L. (1999). Atlas of Amphibians of China (in Chinese). Zhengzhou: Henan Press of Science and Technology. p. 116. ISBN 7-5349-1835-9.
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