The verrucous leaf litter toad was discovered for the first time in a biodiversity measurement project in the Bijia Mountain Provincial Nature Reserve in Lianshan, south China's Guangdong Province.

Experts said during a monitoring trip in November in the Shang Shuai area of the reserve, they heard an insect chirping. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the sound of a frog. The team of senior engineer Lin Shishi from Guangdong Polytechnic of Environmental Protection Engineering brought the specimen back to Foshan for data measurement and completed molecular sequencing. They finally identified the frog as the "verrucous leaf litter toad" through morphological and molecular comparison.

The verrucous leaf litter toad looks like a frog but is small in size with rough skin on the back of the body and a large number of conical warts, and a creamy white ventral surface with grayish and dark brown spots. They're masters of disguise, so even if you hear their call, it might be difficult to spot them.

Lin said that the biodiversity monitoring project was launched in January this year, aiming to further explore the current status of flora and fauna resources and ecosystems in the reserve.

"The verrucous leaf litter toad is only found in the Guangdong Lianshan Bjia Mountain Provincial Nature Reserve, which is an indication of high biodiversity and superior ecological environment," he added.

The results have been published in the SCI journal Herpetozoa.

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