Ansonia echinata

Ansonia echinata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Bufonidae
Genus:	Ansonia
Species:	A. echinata
Binomial name
Ansonia echinata Inger and Stuebing, 2009

Ansonia echinata is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Sarawak, Borneo. Common name spiny slender toad has been coined for this little known species.

The specific name echinata is derived from Latin echinatus, meaning "thorny", and refers to the spinose tubercles on top of the snout and on the sides.

Ansonia echinata is endemic to Malaysian Borneo where it is only known from its type locality, Bukit Kana, a small and isolated hill in Bintulu Division, Sarawak.

The type series consists of four adult males that measured 20–21.3 mm (0.79–0.84 in) in snout–vent length; this means that Ansonia echinata is a relatively small species among the Bornean Ansonia. The habitus is stocky. The canthus is sharp. The tympanum is visible and slightly greater than half eye in diameter. The dorsal surfaces are covered with tubercles. The snout, sides, and limbs bear tubercles with small black spines (the ones that have given the species its name). The toes are partially to fully webbed. The finger and toe tips are rounded but not expanded. The colour in life is unknown; in preservative, the dorsum is dark brown and the raised tubercles are yellowish brown. Ventral colouration is light yellowish brown without pattern. The limbs have dark crossbars.

Males have subgular vocal sacs with a slit-like opening in the floor of the mouth. Female Ansonia echinata are unknown. Hertwig and colleagues discuss the possibility that Ansonia vidua, known only from two female specimens, could be conspecific with Ansonia echinata. Based on morphological and ecological differences, they conclude that the two are separate species, although lack of tissue samples from A. echinata means that this question could not be settled with molecular methods.

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