''Boulenophrys cheni'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

in the family

Megophryidae Megophryidae, commonly known as goose frogs, is a large family of frogs native to the warm southeast of Asia, from the Himalayan foothills eastwards, south to Indonesia and the Greater Sunda Islands in Maritime Southeast Asia, and extending to th ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the middle

Luoxiao Mountains The Luoxiao Mountains () are a system of mountain ranges in the People's Republic of China that straddle Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hunan provinces. Subranges Among other smaller ranges, the Luoxiao Mountains include the following subranges: *Wugong Moun ...

at the border of

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

and

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

provinces in south-eastern China. Its specific name honours Chen Chunquan, former director of the Jinggang National Nature Reserve.

Description

Males measure and females in snout–vent length. The snout is short. The tympanum is distinct or indistinct, partly hidden by the swollen, light-coloured supratympanic fold. The skin of upper surfaces and flanks is smooth with tubercles; tubercles usually form dorsolateral rows, with a weak, X-shaped ridge between them, and four–five transverse rows on shanks. There is a small, horn-like tubercle at the edge of the eyelid. Ventral surface is smooth. Colouration above is red brown or olive brown, with the dorsum bearing a dark, reticular marking. Males have a single

vocal sac The vocal sac is the flexible membrane of skin possessed by most male frogs and toads. The purpose of the vocal sac is usually as an amplification of their mating or advertisement call. The presence or development of the vocal sac is one way ...

. Based on calling males, reproductive season is April–September.

Tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found ...

s are unknown. Megophrys cheni female paratype

Distribution and habitat

This newly described species is known from three locations on the

: Jingzhushan (the type locality) on the

Jinggang Mountains The Jinggang Mountains (), historically rendered as Chingkang Mountains are a mountain range of the Luoxiao Mountains System (罗霄山), in the border region of Jiangxi and Hunan Provinces. The range lies at the junction of four counties - N ...

in Jiangxi, and Dayuan and Lishuzhou, both in the Yanling Taoyuandong National Nature Reserve, Hunan. It lives in mountainous swamps surrounded by subtropical moist evergreen broadleaf forests at elevations of asl. Two other ''Boulenophrys'' species occur in the area, but the three species differ in their habitats: '' Boulenophrys jinggangensis'' live in slow-moving streams at asl, and '' Boulenophrys lini'' in rushing streams at asl. The species also differ in the characteristics of the male advertisement calls.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18061067 cheni Frogs of China Endemic fauna of China Amphibians described in 2014