Critically Endangered
Beilun Pygmy Frog
Microhyla beilunensis
Beilun Pygmy Frog is a narrow-mouthed frog in the family Microhylidae (order Anura) — Microhyla beilunensis, recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to China.
The narrow-mouthed frog
Narrow-mouthed frogs are a worldwide family. Many are small, secretive, and tied to leaf litter or phytotelms rather than open ponds.
Frogs and toads typically begin as aquatic tadpoles, though some families lay eggs on land and hatch as froglets. Skin and eggs both need moisture.
Range and habitat
This species prefers still water and is known to inhabit water holes and ponds approximately 3 m in diameter, as well as adjacent thickets of grass, underground holes and mud pits in mountainous regions. It is also known to inhabit and breed in mountainous rice paddies.
GBIF currently lists 67 occurrence points. Those points follow where people logged the taxon — museum drawers and surveys included — not a closed range boundary.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Narrow-mouthed frogs are often sit-and-wait predators of ants and termites. Breeding sites range from foam in a burrow to water held in plants.
Calling males and egg sites define most frog field work. A species known from one ridge is as narrow as it sounds.
In crisis
It is listed as Critically Endangered, as this species has a range of less than 100 km², occurs in a single location and there is a continuous decline in the extent and quality of its habitat. Within its small known range, this species is threatened by agro-chemical pollution in its habitat and expanding urbanization.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Beilun Pygmy Frog is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the Portuguese Wikipedia article on Microhyla beilunensis, translated and retold in English, plus Wikidata item Q110192093 and GBIF occurrence geography. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Confirm status and range on iucnredlist.org.
