AmphibiaChina 中国两栖类.

Conservation Status (definitions)

IUCN Red List Status Account Vulnerable (VU) CITES No CITES Listing National Status None Regional Status None

Description
The male is 68 mm and the female is 67 mm in body length. The pupil is vertical and the tympanum is relatively obvious. The maxillary teeth are developed. The dorsum is dark purplish black or dark purplish brown and full of spiny tubercles. The axillary gland, the femoral gland and the sides of the body have orange-red tubercles. The ventrum is light in color. The hind legs are long and the tips of the fingers and toes are rounded. The toes have a narrow fringe and little webbing. The tibiotarsal articulation extends to the eye. The male has large, thick nuptial spines on the first and second finger. A pair of thick and dense spine clusters are also present on the chest. The eggs are milky white. The tadpole are 104 mm in total body length and 40 mm in head length. The entire body is transparent or purple so that one can see through to the internal organs. The labial tooth formula is mostly I: 1-1, I: 7-7/I: 8-8. The center of the upper lip lacks one to three papillae. The corners of the mouth have many additional papillae that extend to the inside of the lower lip. The papillae also have many small teeth (Fei 1999).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: China

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

O. rhodostigmatus is known to inhabit the Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou and Hunan provinces of China. It inhabits springs or stream pools in or near limestone caves in mountainous regions at 1000 to 1790 m above sea level (IUCN 2004).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Adult toads are usually found within a few hundred meters from the cave entrance, where it is completely dark, along the banks of the stream or on top of boulders. Their movements are extremely slow. In Hubei province and Lichuan county, transparent tadpoles can be found about 3000 m from the cave entrance in the deep water of the spring. If they are exposed to light, they will swim slowly into the crevices between the boulders in the deep water (Fei 1999).

Trends and Threats
The population is small and distributed in under ten locations over its wide range. The major threats to the species are habitat destruction and degradation, especially to the caves as a result of tourism. In addition, tadpoles are used as a food source (IUCN, 2004)[3718].

Relation to Humans
Tadpoles are used as a food source.

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Intentional mortality (over-harvesting, pet trade or collecting)

References

Fei, L. (1999). Atlas of Amphibians of China. Henan Publishing House of Science and Technology, Zhengzhou.

IUCN, Conservation International, and NatureServe. 2004. Global Amphibian Assessment. < www.globalamphibians.org >. Accessed on 28 November 2006.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2007 Oreolalax rhodostigmatus: Red-spotted Toothed Toad <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/5315> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Nov 23, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 23 Nov 2024.

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