#Leptobrachium

[herpsandbirds]

Emei Mustache Toad aka Taosze Spiny Toad, (Leptobrachium boringii), family Megophryidae, endemic to SE China

ENDANGERED.

The larger males grow keratinized spines on the upper lip, which they use to defend territories, during the breeding season. The spines fall off after the breeding season.

photographs: Hudson and Fu; Jingsong Shi; ChinaFotoPress

[markscherz]

Look, I don't think any of us were ready for Leptobrachium ailaonicum

[img src]

[frogtime]

Emei Moustache Toad (Leptobrachium boringii)

these fancy gentlemen grow stiff upper lip spikes during breeding season to fight for territories! named after one of their very few habitats in the world (Mount Emei, China) and for those sweet, sweet ‘staches.

photo credit: x , x

[markscherz]

All glory to the Bufobecue

BLAAARGH!! PUT THE COALS WITHIN MY MOUTH! ROAST YOUR FOOLISH MARSHED MALLOWS!! COLLECT THE ASHES FROM MY ASS TRAY and dispose of them responsibly, especially if they are still warm, fires are no joke. Uh. BLAARGH!!

[hmm-thats-a-wonderful-idea]

give the frog post back they were totally relevant pls i must observe them

Humans and non humans, this is the curse of owning sideblogs.

Every now and then you get a "Kirby wants your Femur" moment.

But since you asked nicely, here ya go!

Have a frogge.

[frogkiing]

frog asexual pride flag!

featuring: Leptobrachium lunatum Chiromantis xerampelina Phyllobates terribilis Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis

[iamthekaijuking]

Wow, I was not expecting 131 votes on this.

About 55 people voted frog, including me.

About 4 voted salamander, which to my knowledge is what the amphibian monsters canonically are… for some reason. Probably kanji pun reasons.

About 17 voted reptilimorph.

About 33 voted Temnospondyl.

And about 21 voted other/multiple. (Dire-Miralis accidentally clicked Temnospondyl when he meant this).

(I know that only adds up to 130, I’m not good at math)

A lot of people made very good points and logically Temnospondyl is the best answer for these guys, but I voted frog and now that the poll is over I’ll share my reason for my vote in more detail.

So the monster hunter amphibians have teeth on their lower jaw, scales, tails, no rib cage if we assume they’re salamanders or frogs, and claws. Distinct features that separate them from frogs. At least most of them.

Frogs lost the genes for teeth on their mandibles 200 million years ago, but it is possible for them to re-evolve them. The frog Gastrotheca guentheri managed to do it, possibly because the genes that tell teeth were to grow are tied to the genes for gums, but that’s my educated guess and could be wrong.

Claws are also something frogs can evolve if they face pressure for it. For instance the African Clawed Frog has keratinous extensions of the toes that help cut up prey.

Scales is a little harder though. For tetsucabra at least I remember some item drops in generations saying the scales are more like toad warts in texture, but I can’t find the item drop that says that so I might have Mandela effected myself. Regardless, frogs can do weird stuff with their skin such as the hairy frog, and in a land of dragons and dinosaurs I’d imagine they’d be pressured into evolving osteoderms. Leptobrachium boringii males can grow a mustache of keratinous spines during mating season.

Frogs also don’t have a rib cage, and that is a limiting factor in how big they can get. But the monhun frogs could get around this with very well developed obliquus externus and rectus abdominis muscles with a high amount of elastin to prevent damage when getting jostled around, and that could be good enough for monhun’s fast and loose approach to physics.

The tails are probably the main point against the frog theory though. It is possible that the tails of the monhun frogs are actually extensions of the cloaca like the tailed frog, but we don’t really see them squash and stretch like a boneless appendage and instead move like they have an internal rigid support structure. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have vertebrae in their tails… but it’s the most logical answer. And if the tails are actually true tails, then this implies things about their hips.

The genes responsible for the particular shape of the hip bones in frogs is also intrinsically linked with the re-absorption of the tail in their tadpole stage. The re-absorption of the tail allows for the specialized muscles and unique hip structure that allows frogs to jump to be present. Because of this, you can only really have one or the other. If Tetsucabra, Zamtrios, and Tetranadon have true tails, then they’re likely accomplishing their great leaps in a way very different from other frogs.

But my greatest reason for voting frogs, my great Hail Mary…

Is that I just find frogs to be very endearing animals and I have a fondness for the amphiterra project, so I like to headcanon the monhun amphibians as frogs.

Thank you everyone for voting in this poll!

[animalids]

Spotted litter frog (Leptobrachium hendricksoni)

Photo by Steven Wong

[frogs-from-bogs]

Leptobrachium banae by Jean R.

[typhlonectes]

Integrative taxonomic analysis reveals a new species of Leptobrachium (Anura: Megophryidae) from north-eastern Cambodia and central Vietnam

Bryan L. Stuart, Hannah E. Som, Thy Neang, Huy Duc Hoang, Duong Thi Thuy Le, Vinh Quang Dau, Kathy Potter & Jodi J. L. Rowley

ABSTRACT

Species boundaries within the red-eyed Leptobrachium of southern Indochina have been uncertain. Leptobrachium pullum and L. mouhoti from upper and lower elevations, respectively, of the Langbian Plateau of southern Vietnam and eastern Cambodia differ in body size but have relatively low interspecific mitochondrial DNA divergence, leading to speculation that these might represent a single species with an elevational cline in body size.  

The recent discovery of an allopatric high-elevation population of red-eyed Leptobrachium on the Kon Tum Plateau (= Central Highlands) of north-eastern Cambodia and central Vietnam has been referred to both species, and to a putatively undescribed species. 

We examine variation in morphology of adults and tadpoles, mitochondrial DNA, 11 nuclear genes and advertisement calls, and show corroborating lines of evidence for the existence of three species of red-eyed Leptobrachium in southern Indochina. 

Although the three species are reciprocally monophyletic in mitochondrial DNA, their shallow mitochondrial DNA divergences are not mirrored by morphology, advertisement calls, or – in part – nuclear DNA, and probably reflect past mitochondrial introgression rather than recent speciation. The Central Highlands taxon is described herein as a new species.

Read the paper here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222933.2020.1756498?journalCode=tnah20

[herpsandbirds]

Frogs that are called "toads", but are not "true toads" (family Bufonidae), but are in a different non-true toad group...

a post for @mortimermcmirestinks

Bornean Horned Toad (Pelobatrachus nasutus), family Megophryidae, Danum Valley Conservation Area, Borneo

photograph by Marco Chan

Iberian Midwife Toad, Alytes cisternasii, male with eggs, family Alytidae, Spain

photograph by Javier Ábalos

Crucifix Toad aka Holy Cross Frog (Notaden bennettii), male, family Limnodynastidae, New South Wales, Australia

photograph by JJ Harrison 

Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis), family Bombinatoridae, found in far eastern Asia

Poisonous.

photograph by Laurent Lebois 

Mexican Burrowing Toad (Rhinophrynus dorsalis), male - fully inflated and calling them fine ass females, family Rhinophrynidae, South TX, USA

This species is the only extant member of this family.

photograph by Carl J. Franklin

Emei Mustache Toad aka Taosze Spiny Toad, (Leptobrachium boringii), family Megophryidae, endemic to SE China

ENDANGERED.

The larger males grow keratinized spines on the upper lip, which they use to defend territories, during the breeding season. The spines fall off after the breeding season.

photograph: Jingsong Shi

[markscherz]

I have a question. Out of all the amphibians you can think of, which have the most protuberant, goofy-looking, bug eyes? Like, I know most frogs and toads have pretty bulging eyes but there's gotta one or two species that take that up to eleven? Love your blog, it's a really nice mix of informative and fluffiness.

Oof, this is a tough one. Really had to give it some thought.

Purple frogs, Nasikabatrachus, have eyes that look like they have been glued onto a ball of clay:

Photo: Sandeep Das

But I feel like that's not what you're going for.

I think perhaps the most strikingly bulbous eyes belong to frogs of the genus Leptobrachium

[src] L. hendricksoni

These frogs have such huge heads—and then in those heads such huge eyes—that they really look like they were drawn by a cartoonist.

[src] L. lunatum

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Thai spadefoot toad (Leptobrachium hendricksoni), Thailand.

Photo credit: Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo

[daily-fun-animal-facts]

Montane Large-eyed Litter Frog

The tadpole of L. montanum is found in small to medium-sized mountain streams with rocky stream bed. As the other species in the genus, tadpoles grow big (> 70 mm).

[azzaventura]

The Ailao Moustache #Toad (Leptobrachium ailaonicum) has a 'moustache' of hard, conical spines. Males use them in combat with other males of their own species in defending breeding sites.