''Ingerophrynus gollum'' (Gollum's toad) is a toad species in the family Bufonidae, the true toads. 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 elsew ...

to the

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

and has only been recorded from its type locality in the

Endau-Rompin National Park Endau-Rompin National Park ( Malay: ''Taman Negara Endau-Rompin'') is a protected tropical rainforest in the southernmost prolongation of the Tenasserim Hills, Malaysia. It is south of the state of Pahang and northeast of Johor covering an area of ...

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

. However, ''I. gollum'' is genetically so close to ''

Ingerophrynus divergens ''Ingerophrynus divergens'' is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is found in Malay Peninsula (Thailand, presumably Malaysia), Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia), Sumatra, and Natuna Islands. It occurs in well-drained lowland r ...

'' that its validity as a distinct species can be questioned.

Etymology

It is called " gollum" with reference of the eponymous character of

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

Description

Three adult males in the

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

measure in snout–vent length; females are unknown. The head is relatively large whereas the body and the limbs are slender. The tympanum is distinct. The

parotoid gland The parotoid gland (alternatively, paratoid gland) is an external skin gland on the back, neck, and shoulder of toads and some frogs and salamanders. It can secrete a number of milky alkaloid substances (depending on the species) known collective ...

is elongated, low in profile. Fingers are long with blunt tips. The toes are partially webbed. Skin of the flanks and the dorsum is covered with numerous warts. The ground color of the dorsum and the flanks is orange. The mid-dorsal stripe is white and prominent. The inter-orbital region is black. The dorsum has large, black warts. The ventrum is orange with dark blotches. The iris is gold. Males have median sub gular

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 o ...

. The male advertisement call is a low, diphasic, raspy, coughing sound.

Habitat and conservation

The type series was collected in closed-canopy lowland forest (

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

) in the early evening following brief periods of afternoon precipitation. Males were heard calling from a swampy area centered on a slow-moving, shallow stream. They were seated ≤0.5 m above the ground on dead vegetation along the streambed. It is well protected within the national park. Outside the park, if it occurs there, its habitat is threatened by logging and agricultural expansion (especially

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm ''Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its co ...

plantations).

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q102361 gollum Endemic fauna of Malaysia Amphibians of Malaysia Amphibians described in 2007 Taxa named by Larry Lee Grismer Organisms named after Tolkien and his works