''Scutiger spinosus'' 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 scientif ...

in the family

Megophryidae Megophryidae, commonly known as goose frogs, is a large family of frogs native to the warm southeast of Asia, from the Himalayan foothills eastwards, south to Indonesia and the Greater Sunda Islands in Maritime Southeast Asia, and extending to th ...

. It is found in

Medog County Medog (in Tibetan) or Motuo (in Chinese) may refer to: * Mêdog County Mêdog, or Metok, or Motuo County (; ), also known as Pemako ( meaning "Lotus Array", ), is a county as well as a traditional region of the prefecture-level city of Nyingch ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

(China) and in Tawang district,

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares int ...

(India). Prior to its description in 2016, it was confused with '' Scutiger nyingchiensis''. Common name spiny lazy toad has been coined for it.

Description

Adult males measure and adult females in snout–vent length. The body is slightly compressed and the head is large. The snout is rounded. Tympanum is totally absent, but the supratympanic fold is distinct. The forelimbs are long whereas the hindlimbs are moderately short. The finger and the toe tips are rounded; the toes have rudimentary webbing. Skin is dorsally very rough and largely covered with tubercles, many of them bearing black spines. Ventral skin is mostly smooth. The upper surfaces are dark brownish gray; the flanks are light brown. There is a triangular pattern on the head, and the sides of the head are dark brown. The upper lip is creamy white with irregular brown mottling. Ventral surfaces are uniform light yellow. Males have stronger forearms and, in breeding condition, more spines than females.

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 ...

is absent.

Habitat and conservation

''Scutiger spinosus'' occurs in high-altitude mixed forests at elevations of

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 ...

. Breeding takes place in slow-flowing streams and small to medium-sized, permanent ponds. The eggs are deposited in doughnut-shaped masses attached to the lower surfaces of logs and rocks.

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 i ...

s require more than one year to reach metamorphosis and thus overwinter. As of late 2018, this species had not been included in the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q25383872 spinosus Frogs of China Frogs of India Fauna of Tibet Amphibians described in 2016