Boettger's horned toad (''Boulenophrys boettgeri''), also known as Boettger's spadefoot toad or the pale-shouldered horned toad, is a species of

toad Toad (also known as a hoptoad) 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. In popular culture (folk taxonomy ...

found in southern and southeastern China (the northern border runs roughly from

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

in the west to

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

in the north and

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

in the east) and north-eastern India (

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

, and

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

). A closely related but probably as yet undescribed species in found in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

. The history of this species' discovery is highly international. It was described by

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

, a Belgian zoologist who made his career in the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

. He named ''Boulenophrys boettgeri'' in honour of

Oskar Boettger Oskar Boettger (; 31 March 1844 – 25 September 1910) was a German zoologist who was a native of Frankfurt am Main. He was an uncle of the noted malacologist Caesar Rudolf Boettger (1888–1976). From 1863 to 1866 he studied at the Bergakademie ...

, a German zoologist, based on specimens collected by Irish ornithologist J. D. La Touche in Guadun village in

Wuyishan, Fujian Wuyishan City ( zh, c=武夷山市, p=Wǔyíshān Shì) is a county-level city in the municipal region of Nanping, in the northwest of Fujian, People's Republic of China, which borders Jiangxi to the northwest. It corresponds to the former Chong'a ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Male ''Boulenophrys boettgeri'' grow to a snout-vent length of about and females to . They are dark grey or brown above, with symmetrical blackish markings and smooth skin with small scattered warts on the head and back. ''Boulenophrys boettgeri'' is a reasonably common species associated with riparian vegetation, hill streams and leaf-litter in evergreen forest habitats. These frogs breed in streams. Tadpoles are in length.

References

Boulenophrys Frogs of India Amphibians of China Fauna of Hong Kong Amphibians described in 1899 {{Megophryidae-stub