''Ansonia albomaculata'', also known as the white-lipped slender toad and whitebelly stream toad, is a species of

toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scient ...

in the family

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category contains both species commonly called toads, and the true toads from the family Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, cat ...

. It is endemic to the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

and can be found in

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

and

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

(Malaysia),

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

, and northern Kalimantan (Indonesia).

Description

Males grow to and females to in snout–vent length. The overall appearance is slender. The head is wider than it is long. The snout is truncate. The tympanum is visible but partly concealed by skin. The finger tips are rounded. The fingers are long and have rudimentary webbing. The toes are webbed and have small rounded disks at their tips. A distinct ridge runs along inner margin of the tarsus. The dorsum is dark brown and warty, albeit the warts being low. There is a light spot on the upper jaw, below the eye.

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 probably belonging to this species are small, total length . They have an oval body that is dorsoventrally depressed and a bluntly rounded tail.

Habitat and conservation

''Ansonia albomaculata'' is a lowland stream-associated species that is known from elevations between above sea level. Adults are mostly terrestrial and disperse widely over the rainforest floor. They breed in small, clear, rocky-bottomed streams. The

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 live in torrents where they cling to rocks and feed on

lithophyte Lithophytes are plants that grow in or on rocks. They can be classified as either epilithic (or epipetric) or endolithic; epilithic lithophytes grow on the surfaces of rocks, while endolithic lithophytes grow in the crevices of rocks (and are als ...

s. ''Ansonia albomaculata'' is known from widely scattered localities and is generally considered rare, although it can be abundant at some places. It does not adapt to habitat modification and is threatened by forest loss and fragmentation caused by conversion of forests to rubber and oil palm plantations. These also negatively affect the larval habitat through siltation and through eutrophication caused by chemical fertilizers. However, it is present in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q266252 albomaculata Endemic fauna of Borneo Amphibians of Brunei Amphibians of Borneo Amphibians of Indonesia Amphibians of Malaysia Amphibians described in 1960 Taxa named by Robert F. Inger Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fauna of the Borneo lowland rain forests