''Ansonia mcgregori'' 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 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 central and western

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

, Philippines. The specific name ''mcgregori'' honors Richard Crittenden McGregor, an Australian ornithologist who collected the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

. Common names McGregor's toad, McGregori's river toad, and McGregor's stream toad have been coined for it.

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The tympanum is not visible. All the finger tips are rounded and have small discs, not wider than rest of the phalanges. The toes are almost fully webbed. The hind legs have crossbars. The adult males have a subgular

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 ...

Habitat and conservation

''Ansonia mcgregori'' is a terrestrial toad associated with cool mountain streams and rivers in lower montane and lowland forests at elevations of above sea level. Individuals have been found above rocks covered with mosses, on rock crevices, and on leaf litter near streams. Although it is generally restricted to undisturbed or minimally disturbed habitats, a few individuals have been found in secondary forest, plantations, small-scale agroecosystems, and in the floor of a cave surrounded by farmland–disturbed lowland

dipterocarp Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = f ...

forest mosaic. Breeding takes place in streams. This species is common in suitable habitat. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

caused by small-scale agricultural activities, large-scale oil palm plantations, wood collection for charcoal production, and expanding human settlements. Furthermore, agricultural effluents, soil erosion, and mine

tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overli ...

can impact its stream habitat. It is known to occur in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2237209 mcgregori Amphibians of the Philippines Endemic fauna of the Philippines Fauna of Mindanao Amphibians described in 1922 Taxa named by Edward Harrison Taylor Taxonomy articles created by Polbot