Bufo gargarizans Cantor, 1842

English Names

Chusan Island Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 41; Dinesh, Radhakrishnan, Deepak, and Kulkarni, 2023, Fauna India Checklist, vers. 5.0 : 2). 

Asiatic Toad (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 39; Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 245).

Zhousan Toad (Bufo gargarizans gargarizans: Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 130).

Chinese Toad (Bufo bufo asiaticus: Liu, 1931, Peking Nat. Hist. Bull., 5: 53).

Miyako Toad (Bufo gargarizans miyakonis: Maeda and Matsui, 1990, Frogs Toads Japan, Ed. 2: 31; Goris and Maeda, 2004, Guide Amph. Rept. Japan: 46).

Asian Toad (Yang, Kim, Min, and Suh, 2001, Monogr. Korean Amph.: 50).

Asian Toad (Bufo gargarizans: Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 19).

Distribution

Northeastern China south through central and eastern China south to high elevations of Guangxi and Yunnan and west through Sichuan and Qinghai, to eastern Xizang; Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, India (see comment); Ha Giang Province, Vietnam; Miyakojima, Ryukyu Is., Japan; introduced onto the islands of Kita Daitojima and Minami Daitojima and into the northern part of Okinawa. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: China, People's Republic of, India, Korea, Democratic People's Republic (North), Korea, Republic of (South), Russia, Vietnam

Introduced: Japan

Comment

In the Bufo bufo group; traditionally treated as a subspecies of Bufo bufo, but considered a distinct species by Gumilevskij, 1936, Trudy Zool. Inst. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Leningrad, 4: 167–171, Borkin and Roshchin, 1981, Zool. Zh., 60: 1802–1812, and by Hu, Jiang, and Tian, 1984, Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, N.S.,, 3 (1): 77–85. See Matsui, 1980, Annot. Zool. Japon., 53: 56–68; Matsui, 1984, Contrib. Biol. Lab. Kyoto Univ., 26: 209–428; and Matsui, 1986, Copeia, 1986: 561–579, for discussion. Considered to be in the Bufo gargarizans group by Hu, Jiang, and Tian, 1984, Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, N.S.,, 3 (1): 77–85. Reviewed (as Bufo bufo) by Liu, 1950, Fieldiana, Zool. Mem., 2: 212–214. Considered to be a member of the Bufo gargarizans group by Hu, Jiang, and Tian, 1984, Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, N.S.,, 3 (1): 77–85. Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China: 184, considered Bufo andrewsi and Bufo minshanicus to be subspecies. See accounts by Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 245–250, and Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 146–149, for the former USSR. Nishioka, Sumida, Ueda, and Wu, 1990, Sci. Rep. Lab. Amph. Biol. Hiroshima Univ., 10: 53–91, suggested that their Bufo japonicus gargarizans and Bufo japonicus miyakonis differ distinctively from other Bufo japonicus, although mildly less so between each other. Likely this is evidence for species distinctiveness between Bufo miyakonis and Bufo japonicus sensu lato in Japan as well as between Bufo miyakonis and Bufo gargarizans, although Bufo miyakonis and Bufo gargarizans are tentatively combined here under Bufo gargarizans. Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 134–135, provided a brief account, figure, and map. Fang and Zhao, 1992, in Jiang (ed.), Collect. Pap. Herpetol.: 77–88, reported on geographic variation in China. Maeda and Matsui, 1990, Frogs Toads Japan, Ed. 2: 28–31, provided an account. Fei and Ye, 2001, Color Handbook Amph. Sichuan: 152, provided a brief account and illustration (as Bufo gargarizans gargarizans). Huang, 1990, Fauna Zhejiang, Amph. Rept.: 44–46, provided an account (as Bufo bufo gargarizans) for Zhejiang populations. Zhang and Wen, 2000, Amph. Guangxi: 55, provided an account (as Bufo gargarizans gargarizans) for Guangxi. Yang, Suh, Min, Kang, and Kim, 2000, Korean J. Genet., 22: 209–221, noted high levels of genetic divergence between Korean and Chinese (Shandong Province) populations. Ye and Fei, 1994, Acta Herpetol. Sinica, 3: 26–29, regarded Bufo andrewsi and Bufo minshanicus to be subspecies of Bufo gargarizans. Yang, Kim, Min, and Suh, 2001, Monogr. Korean Amph.: 50–51, provided a brief account, map and figure for South Korea. Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 146, reported on introduced populations in the Ryukyus of Japan. Fan, Guo, and Liu, 1998, Amph. Rept. Shanxi Prov.: 50–52, provided an account for Shanxi. Goris and Maeda, 2004, Guide Amph. Rept. Japan: 46–48, provided an account, map, and photograph for Bufo gargarizans miyakonis. Kuzmin and Maslova, 2003, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 8: 123–156, provided an extensive account. The status of Bufo andrewsi is controversial, treated variously as a subspecies of Bufo gargarizans (e.g., Ye, Fei, and Hu, 1993, Rare and Economic Amph. China: 18), as a distinct species, or as a synonym of Bufo gargarizans (Fu, Weadick, Zeng, Wang, Liu, Zheng, Li, and Hu, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 37: 202–213). Borkin and Matsui, 1987 "1986", in Anajeva and Borkin (eds.), Sistematika i ekologiia amfibii i reptilii: 43–54, noted that Bufo andrewsi resembles Bufo tuberculatus Zarevskij, 1926 "1925". Yang, 1991, Amph. Fauna of Yunnan: 94–96, provided an account. Fei and Ye, 2001, Color Handbook Amph. Sichuan: 154–155, provided a brief account and illustration (as Bufo gargarizans andrewsi). Huang, 1990, Fauna Zhejiang, Amph. Rept.: 43–44, provided an account (as Bufo bufo andrewsi) for Zhejiang populations. Zhang and Wen, 2000, Amph. Guangxi: 57, provided an account (as Bufo gargarizans andrewsi) for Guangxi.See also brief account by Zhao and Yang, 1997, Amph. Rept. Hengduan Mountains Region: 69–70. Yang, 2008, in Yang and Rao (ed.), Amph. Rept. Yunnan: 46–47, provided a brief account (as Bufo bufo andrewsi) for Yunnan, China. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 2: 522–541, provided an account for China and a spot map.See also brief account by Zhao and Yang, 1997, Amph. Rept. Hengduan Mountains Region: 72–73. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 224–225 (as Bufo gargarizans andrewsi) and page 226–227 (as Bufo gargarizans gargarizans), provided a brief account including photographs of specimens and habitat. Fei and Ye, 2001, Color Handbook Amph. Sichuan: 158, provided a brief account and illustration. Li, Zhao, and Dong, 2010, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 29–31, provided an account for Xizang, China. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 250–251, provided an account (as Bufo gargarizans gargarizans), photograph, and range map for China. Wen, Yang, and Fu, 2015, Zool. Sci., Tokyo, 32: 427–434, reported on genetic intra- and interpopulation variation in western China and recommended that all populations in western China be referred to Bufo gargarizans. Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 749–751, provided accounts by subspecies, photographs, and dot maps. Tong, Wo, Liao, and Jin, 2017, Asian Herpetol. Res., 8: 165–173. provided a molecular phylogeographic study of populations in eastern China, showing substantial historic structure. Yao and Gong, 2012, Amph. Rept. Gansu: 37–41, provided a brief account and photograph. Li, Lian, and Lu, 2010, Res. Tadpoles Liaoning: 19–22, described and pictured the larva. Shen, 2014, Fauna Hunan, Amph.: 176–179, provided a detailed account for Hunan, China. Li, 2011, Amph. Rept. Guangdong: 34–35, provided a brief account and photograph for Bufo gargarizans gargarizans for Guangdong, China. Pham, Nguyen, Bernardes, Nguyen, and Ziegler, 2016, Russ. J. Herpetol., 23: 103–107, reported the species from Ha Giang Province, northeastern Vietnam on the Yunnan, China, border. Adnagulov, 2016, Curr. Stud. Herpetol., Saratov, 16: 87–106, provided a dot map and discussion for Evreiskaya Autonomous Oblast, Far East Russia. Zhang, 2017, Amph. Rept. Fanjing Mts.: 86–94, provided taxonomic and natural history information (as Bufo gargarizans gargarizans) for the Fanjing Mountains population in northeastern Guizhou, China. Dot map and discussion of status for North Korea provided by Song, 2016, J. Natl. Park Res., Rep. Korea, 7: 211–217. Pan, Yan, Wang, Ali, Ayub, Zhang, Wang, Li, Xue, Zhang, and Wu, 2018, Aust. J. Zool., 66: 335–342, reported on regional population genetic differentiation based on microsatellite markers. Nijhawan, Roy, Mitapo, Miwu, Pulu, and Ahmed, 2021, J. Threatened Taxa, 13: 18319–18323, provided the first records of nominal Bufo gargarizans from India from the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary, Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, India, although this was prior to the partition and possibly applies to Bufo tibetanus or Bufo andrewsi. Che, Jiang, Yan, and Zhang, 2020, Amph. Rept. Tibet: 125–139, provided a detailed account for Tibet, as Bufo cf. andrewsi and as various distinct populations of Bufo gargarizans, suggesting that as a taxonomically widespread Bufo gargarizans is a complex several lineages. Dufresnes and Litvinchuk, 2022, Zool. J. Linn. Soc., 195: 700, regarded Bufo asiaticus as a synonym of Bufo gargarizans on the basis of low genetic distance. Othman, Litvinchuk, Maslova, Dahn, Messenger, Andersen, Jowers, Kojima, Skorinov, Yasumiba, Chuang, Chen, Bae, Hoti, Jang, and Borzée, 2022, eLife, 11(e70494): 23, suggested that the nominal species is a complex in need of a densely sample analysis and study of contact zones among the synonym populations and other species within the species complex. Kasatani and Takeuchi, 2023, Curr. Herpetol., Kyoto, 42: 144–161, reported on the molecular phylogeography of Bufo gargarizans miyakonis.  

External links:

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• For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observation see iNaturalist
• For additional information specific to China see Amphibia China
• For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.