''Boulenophrys brachykolos'', the short-legged horned toad or Peak spadefoot toad, is a

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 ...

native to southern China and Vietnam. It was first discovered in the

Victoria Peak Victoria Peak is a hill on the western half of Hong Kong Island. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak only generally. With an elevation of , it is the highest hill on Hong Kong Island, ranked 29 in terms of elevation in Ho ...

(locally known as The Peak),

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. Many populations of Hong Kong are in the country parks, such as

Lung Fu Shan Country Park Lung Fu Shan Country Park, established 18 December 1998, is a country park in the Central and Western District of Hong Kong. It covers the densely vegetated slopes of Lung Fu Shan (''aka.'' Hill Above Belcher's), and includes the disused Pin ...

Taxonomy and distribution

Whether ''Boulenophrys brachykolos'' is a valid species or only subspecies of '' Megophrys minor'' has been questioned, but molecular genetic evidence now supports its species status. Recent research has also shown that the species has a wider distribution than assumed before. At the time of the IUCN assessment in 2004, the species was hardly known outside Hong Kong and it was considered to be an endangered species. Reflecting the distribution now known to be much wider, the

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservatio ...

of ''Boulenophrys brachykolos'' is likely to change when the assessment is updated.

Description

Short-legged Toad Tadpole (Xenophrys brachykolos) 短腳角蟾

''Boulenophrys brachykolos'' are relatively small but robust frogs. Males have a snout-vent length of and females . They have a strongly projecting snout and a small horn-like tubercle at the edge of the upper eyelid (the "horn" of a "horned toad").

References

brachykolos Amphibians of China Fauna of Hong Kong Amphibians of Vietnam Amphibians described in 1961 Taxa named by Robert F. Inger Endangered Fauna of China {{Megophryidae-stub