Boulenophrys brachykolos (Inger and Romer, 1961)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Megophryidae > Subfamily: Megophryinae > Genus: Boulenophrys > Species: Boulenophrys brachykolos

Megophrys brachykolos Inger and Romer, 1961, Fieldiana, Zool., 39: 533. Holotype: FMNH 69063, by original designation. Type locality: "The Peak, Hong Kong Island", China.

Megophrys (Megophrys) brachykolos — Dubois, 1980, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 49: 472.

Panophrys brachykolos — Rao and Yang, 1997, Asiat. Herpetol. Res., 7: 98–99. Tentative arrangement.

Megophrys (Xenophrys) brachykolos — Dubois and Ohler, 1998, Dumerilia, 4: 14.

Megophrys minor brachykolos — Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 118. No discussion.

Xenophrys brachykolos — Ohler, 2003, Alytes, 21: 23, by implication.

Boulenophrys brachykolos — Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 650; Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021, Megataxa, 5: 413; Qi, Lyu, Wang, Mo, Zeng, Zeng, Dai, Li, Grismer, and Wang, 2021, Zootaxa, 5072: 403.

Megophrys (Panophrys) brachykolos — Mahony, Foley, Biju, and Teeling, 2017, Mol. Biol. Evol., 34: 755. 

Xenophrys (Panophrys) brachykolos — Chen, Zhou, Poyarkov, Stuart, Brown, Lathrop, Wang, Yuan, Jiang, Hou, Chen, Suwannapoom, Nguyen, Duong, Papenfuss, Murphy, Zhang, and Che, 2017, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 109: 41.

Panophrys brachykolos — Lyu, Zeng, Wang, Liu, Huang, Li, and Wang, 2021, Zootaxa, 4927: 12. 

Common Names

Peak Spadefoot Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 86).

Short-legged Horned Toad (Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 118).

Short-legged Toad (Karsen, Lau, and Bogadek, 1986, Hong Kong Amph. Rept.: 16; Nguyen, Ho, and Nguyen, 2005, Checklist Amph. Rept. Vietnam: 13).

Distribution

Currently recognized from Hong Kong and neighboring Shenzhen (Guangdong Province), China, at elevations of 30–580 m. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: China, People's Republic of, Hong Kong

Likely/Controversially Present: Vietnam

Endemic: China, People's Republic of, Hong Kong

Comment

Prior to the publication of Lyu, Qi, Wang, Zhang, Zhao, Zeng, Wan, Yang, Mo, and Wang, 2023, Zool. Res., Kunming, 44: 380–450, the distribution of this species was stated as "Southwestern Hubei to eastern Guizhou, Henan, and south to eastern Guangxi, western and southern Guangdong to Hong Kong; nominally associated allopatric population in northeastern Vietnam (Lang Son and Ha Bac provinces), 20–750 m elevation (see comment)". But (p. 426) these authors restricted the range to Hong Kong and the adjacent mainland of China on the basis of reidentifications (e.g., to Boulenophrys yaoshanensis) and the absence of voucher specimens, at least for China. For this reason the literature below should be used with great caution. See also comment under Boulenophrys hengshanensis. 

Fei, 1999, Atlas Amph. China: 118–199, provided a brief account (as Megophrys minor brachykolos), map, and figure. Karsen, Lau, and Bogadek, 1986, Hong Kong Amph. Rept.: 16, also provided a brief account. Orlov, Murphy, Ananjeva, Ryabov, and Ho, 2002, Russ. J. Herpetol., 9: 83, provided the Vietnamese part of the range. Jiang, Yuan, Xie, and Zheng, 2003, Zool. Res., Kunming, 24: 241–248, justified the distinction of this taxon from Megophrys minor on the basis of DNA sequence data. In the Megophrys boettgeri group of Fei, Ye, Huang, Jiang, and Xie, 2005, in Fei et al. (eds.), Illust. Key Chinese Amph.: 82. See photograph, map, description of geographic range and habitat, and conservation status in Stuart, Hoffmann, Chanson, Cox, Berridge, Ramani, and Young, 2008, Threatened Amph. World: 444. Fei, Hu, Ye, and Huang, 2009, Fauna Sinica, Amph. 2: 433–438, provided an account for China and spot map that extended the range deep within southern China. Dai, Li, Zheng, Gong, and Liu, 2009, Sichuan J. Zool., 28: 291, provided a record for Hubei, China. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012, Colored Atlas Chinese Amph. Distr.: 214, provided an account, photographs, and a range map for China. Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2010, Colored Atlas of Chinese Amph.: 186, provided a brief account for China, with photographs of adults and larvae.  Fei and Ye, 2016, Amph. China, 1: 653–655, provided an account, photographs, and dot map as Boulenophrys brachykolos. Wang, Zhao, Yang, Zhou, Chen, and Liu, 2014, PLoS One, 9(4)(e93075): 1–15, discussed the advertisement call. Shen, 2014, Fauna Hunan, Amph.: 169–171, provided a detailed account for Hunan. China, although the identification of this population needs to be verified. Zhang, 2017, Amph. Rept. Fanjing Mts.: 80–82, provided taxonomic and natural history information for the Fanjing Mountains population in northeastern Guizhou, China. Poyarkov, Nguyen, Popov, Geissler, Pawangkhanant, Neang, Suwannapoom, and Orlov, 2021, Russ. J. Herpetol., 28 (3A): 36, implied that the Vietnam records require confirmation. Lyu, Qi, Wang, Zhang, Zhao, Zeng, Wan, Yang, Mo, and Wang, 2023, Zool. Res., Kunming, 44: 426, provided an account and placed this species in their Boulenophrys boettgeri group. Shang, Luo, Qian, Gao, Li, Deng, and Yang, 2023, Life Sci. Res., 27: 349–360, rejected records from Hunan, China, suggesting that its presence in that province requires confirmation.  

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