A new species of Boulenophrys Fei, Ye & Jiang, 2016 (Anura, Megophryidae) from karst landscapes in northern Guangdong, China

Karst landscapes across southern China represent global hotspots for vertebrate diversity and endemism, yet amphibian diversity within such habitats remains insufficiently documented. Herein, we describe Boulenophrys calciphila sp. nov., a new species discovered from fragmented karst hills in northern Guangdong Province, China, extending the documented habitat spectrum of the genus in Guangdong to limestone karst terrain.

Detailed morphological comparisons coupled with phylogenetic analyses validate its taxonomic distinctness from all known congeners. This new discovery aligns with ongoing records of range-restricted anuran species uncovered from southern Chinese karst formations, reinforcing karst ecosystems as important reservoirs of amphibian diversity. Our results demonstrate that amphibian diversity within poorly-explored karst regions of northern Guangdong is substantially underestimated and call for focused conservation actions to safeguard these microendemic taxa and their unique evolutionary lineages.