Ping's Toothed Toad

The male is 47 mm and the female is 52 mm in body length. This species has vertical pupils. The tympanum is hidden. Maxillary teeth are developed. The dorsum has loose, thick skin which is relatively smooth with small tubercles. A longitudinal skin groove extends down the midline of the lower back to the anus. The back legs are short, with the tibiotarsal articulation extending only to the corner of the mouth. Digit tips are rounded. The toes have slight webbing, and the sides of the toes are fringed. The dorsum is light palm or a greenish palm, with black tubercles, while the ventrum is grayish white. The interorbital space lacks a triangular mark. Limbs are often banded. The male has sparsely distributed black spines on the dorsal surface of the upper arm, and thick, dense nuptial spines on the first and second finger, as well as a pair of relatively small spiny clusters on the chest. Tadpoles are 64 mm in total body length and 25 mm in head length. The back is black while the tail is relatively light in color. The labial tooth row formula is I: 4-4/I: 4-4. The center of the upper lip lacks three papillae. Small teeth are present on the additional papillae at the corners of the mouth (Fei 1999).

O. pingii occurs in two locations in Daliang Mountain in Zhaojue and Yuexi counties in southern Sichuan province, between 2700 to 3300 m above sea level (IUCN 2006). It lives along small and large streams of high mountain ranges (Fei 1999).

These toads are terrestrial. The breeding season occurs between May and early June. During this time, mating pairs are usually found in small ditches in marshy areas around the mouth of the stream. In the evening, the male makes a low "gu, gu , gu …" call. The female lays 150 eggs in clumps stuck to the undersides of submerged rocks, or in strips hung from the stems or leaves of water grass. Eggs are milky white (Fei 1999).

Habitat loss is the major threat, especially due to its restricted range (IUCN 2006).

Oreolalax pingii (Chinese lazy toad or Ping's toothed toad) is a species of amphibian in the family Megophryidae. It is endemic to south-western China where it is restricted to the Daliang and Hengduan Mountains in Sichuan and Yunnan. Its natural habitats are subtropical moist montane forests, moist shrubland, and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss.