A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners

Petrochemistry, Chronology and Tectonic Setting of Strong Peraluminous Anatectic Granitoids in Yunkai Orogenic Belt, Western Guangdong Province, China

Figure 1 from: Zhao Y-Y, Lin S-S, Li Y-H, Lyu Z-T, Zheng K, Zeng Z-C, Borzée A, Wang J (2025) A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners. Herpetozoa 38: 345-357. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e171400

Supplementary material 1 from: Zhao Y-Y, Lin S-S, Li Y-H, Lyu Z-T, Zheng K, Zeng Z-C, Borzée A, Wang J (2025) A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners. Herpetozoa 38: 345-357. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e171400

Supplementary material 2 from: Zhao Y-Y, Lin S-S, Li Y-H, Lyu Z-T, Zheng K, Zeng Z-C, Borzée A, Wang J (2025) A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners. Herpetozoa 38: 345-357. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e171400

Figure 2 from: Zhao Y-Y, Lin S-S, Li Y-H, Lyu Z-T, Zheng K, Zeng Z-C, Borzée A, Wang J (2025) A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners. Herpetozoa 38: 345-357. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e171400

Figure 4 from: Zhao Y-Y, Lin S-S, Li Y-H, Lyu Z-T, Zheng K, Zeng Z-C, Borzée A, Wang J (2025) A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners. Herpetozoa 38: 345-357. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e171400

Figure 5 from: Zhao Y-Y, Lin S-S, Li Y-H, Lyu Z-T, Zheng K, Zeng Z-C, Borzée A, Wang J (2025) A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners. Herpetozoa 38: 345-357. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e171400

Figure 3 from: Zhao Y-Y, Lin S-S, Li Y-H, Lyu Z-T, Zheng K, Zeng Z-C, Borzée A, Wang J (2025) A new species of Chinese horned toad (Anura, Megophryidae, Boulenophrys) from western Guangdong Province, China, with recommendations for extinction risk assessments for several related congeners. Herpetozoa 38: 345-357. https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.38.e171400

A coupled approach based on grain size and geochemical elements is used to trace the provenance of surface sediments and to confirm the distribution patterns of grain size and elements on the continental shelf off western Guangdong Province and northeastern Hainan Island. The mean grain size ranges from 0.05 ϕ to 7.28 ϕ with a mean value of 5.60 ϕ. The average concentrations of major elements descend in the order of SiO2 >Al2O3 >CaO>Fe2O3 >K2O>MgO>Na2O>TiO2 >P2O5 >MnO, while those of trace elements exhibit a descending order of Sr>Rb >Zn>V>Cr>Pb>Ni>Cu>As>Cd. On the basis of the distribution patterns of elements and results of statistical analysis, the study area is classified into three zones. Zone I locates on the continental shelf off western Guangdong Province, and the sediments are mainly from Pearl River, Taiwanese rivers, and small rivers nearby. Zone II locates in the eastern exit of Qiongzhou Strait and the coastal area off Leizhou Peninsula, and the sediments are mainly from the erosion products of Qiongzhou Strait and Hainan Island. Zone III locates off the eastern Hainan Island and the continental shelf deeper than −50 m isobaths, and the sediments are mainly from Hainan Island and coral reef. The influence from open water should also be considered. Results indicate that the grain size is the main controlling factor for major and trace element contents and that anthropogenic impact and biological activity also play an important role in the distribution of these elements.

To the Editor: Sparganosis is a worldwide parasitic zoonosis caused by infection with spargana, the plerocercoid larvae of various diphyllobothroid tapeworms belonging to the genus Spirometra (1–3). Sparganosis poses a serious threat to human health; the spargana invade mainly the brain, eye, abdominal cavity, spinal cord, and subcutaneous tissues; can damage local tissues; and can cause blindness, paralysis, and even death (4,5). In the People’s Republic of China, sparganosis has emerged as an important foodborne parasitic disease, with ≈1,000 human cases reported in 22 provinces during 1927–2007. Guangdong Province has the most cases (6). Persons in Guangdong Province eat frog meat and place frog poultices made from raw frog meat on open wounds and lesions, which facilitates human infection with spargana. To assess the risk for human infection with sparganosis in this province and to strengthen public food safety awareness, we conducted a comprehensive investigation of spargana infection in frogs, the second intermediate host of Spirometra. By necropsy we examined for spargana 544 frogs (446 Rana nigromaculata and 98 R. tigrina) from Yunfu, Maoming, and Zhanjiang in western Guangdong Province during October 2007–October 2008 (7). Of these 544 frogs, 455 were wild, and 89 were aquacultured. Spargana were found in 27.3% (124/455) of examined wild frogs; of these, 30.0% (107/357) were R. nigromaculata, significantly more (p<0.05) than the 17.3% (17/98) that were R. tigrina. This finding suggests that R. nigromaculata is the main intermediate host of Spirometra in western Guangdong Province. We found 719 spargana in infected wild frogs. The number of worms per frog ranged from 1 to 41, with an average of 5.8 worms per infected frog. No spargana were found in 89 aquacultured R. nigromaculata frogs. The examined wild frogs looked normal and healthy and had no obvious symptoms. During necropsy, we detected local edema, muscle bleeding, and fragile tissues in the tissues invaded by spargana. We also found cysts in some tissues that contained 1 or a few worms. Spargana dissected from host tissue were flat, white worms, which continuously crept in the normal saline. These worms ranged from 2 mm to 115 mm long and from 1 mm to 2 mm wide. Frogs are the second intermediate hosts of Spirometra spp.; pigs, mice, and humans become infected as paratenic hosts by ingesting Spirometra larvae in cyclops or frogs (8,9). Because persons in Guangdong Province enjoy eating frog meat, particularly from wild frogs, many frogs have been sold in the market, including a substantial number of wild frogs. The results of our survey show that infection of wild frogs with spargana reached 27.3% in western Guangdong Province; hence, consumption of wild frogs (and use as poultices) poses a high risk for sparganum infection. Therefore, public health officials, epidemiologists, medical practitioners, parasitologists, veterinarians, and the general public should be aware of such risks and should implement strategies to reduce or eliminate them.

The western Guangdong Province (WGDP) in China, influenced by both the East Asian and the Indian summer monsoon, is a pivotal region for exploring the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) evolution. So far, there still lacks detail studies on late Holocene climatic/environmental changes here. In this study, multiple magnetic parameters were measured on the lake sediments of Hedong section in this area. Results indicated a dominance of pseudo-single-domain detrital (titano-)magnetite or maghemite mixed with paramagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic minerals in sediments, and the impacts of authigenic greigite, bacterial activity, post-depositional dissolution, and dilution effects were trivial. Changes in rainfall-induced surface erosion intensity were determined as a role in sediment magnetic properties. Intensified surface erosion deduced by increased rainfall favored enhanced concentrations and more coarse-grained magnetic minerals in sediments, and vice versa. Thus, the magnetic parameters can be used to reflect varying ASM strength in the past ~4300 years. They revealed four relatively humid (strengthened ASM) (i.e., 4300–4000 cal. yr BP, 3500–3130 cal. yr BP, 2640–1950 cal. yr BP, and 1250–850 cal. yr BP), and three dry periods (weakened ASM) (i.e., 4000–3500 cal. yr BP, 3130–2640 cal. yr BP, and 1950–1250 cal. yr BP) which coincided with the Bond events 3, 2, and 1 respectively. In combination with the three significant cycles (i.e., 1250-, 75-, and 65-year) revealed by spectral analysis on SIRM record, we inferred both the external forcing (e.g., solar activity) and internal hemispheric-scale atmospheric processes (e.g., ENSO, North Atlantic Oscillation) have played an integral role in late Holocene climate changes in the study region.

Blue-green algae blooms present persistent environmental challenges in freshwater ecosystems, yet ecological interactions within the bacterial communities of Cylindrospermopsis-bloom reservoirs remain poorly understood. In this study, water samples were collected from February to May 2024 from 11 sampling sites in a Cylindrospermopsis-bloom reservoir in western Guangdong province, China. At each sampling point, a water sample was collected every month. High-throughput sequencing was applied to analyze the interaction between Cylindrospermopsis and other bacteria. As shown in our results, the phyla Actinobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, Verrucomicrobiota, and Cyanobacteria were revealed as dominant phyla. Bacterial communities exhibited significant seasonal differences between flood and non-flood periods (ANOSIM: R = 0.472, p = 0.001). Cylindrospermopsis (dominance index Y = 0.53) acted as the keystone in the co-occurrence network (Zi &lt; 2.5, Pi &gt; 0.62) and closely interacted with other bacteria. For better management of the blue-green algae bloom reservoir, the phyla of Actinobacteriota, Dependentiae, Acidobacteriota, Armatimonadota, Gemmatimonadota, and Desulfobacterota were proposed as microbial indicators for the eutrophic process. This study provides a new insight into the interactions of Cyanobacteria with other bacteria and the management of blue-green algae outbreaks in reservoirs.

Surface sediments collected from the continental shelf off the western Guangdong Province and northeastern Hainan Island are analyzed for selected heavy metals contents including Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, and As to determine spatial distribution, potential ecological risks, and sources. In addition, some of the controlling factors of heavy metals distribution are also discussed. The average heavy metals contents decrease in the order of Zn > Cr > Pb > Cu > As > Cd. The averaged pollution degree, as shown by the index of geo-accumulation (Igeo), decreases in the order of Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr > Cd > As. Due to the barrier of islands, the Igeo values of Zn, Pb, Cr, Cu, and Cd near the Hailing and Xiachuan Islands are larger than those in other areas. Meanwhile, the Igeo value of As near the coastal area off the estuary of Wanquan River is clearly larger than that in other areas. Based on the results of potential ecological risk index, Cd, Cu, and As should be paid more attention for the contamination risk in future. The results of Pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis indicate that Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu, and Cd are mainly from the Pearl River and surrounding small rivers, whereas As originates from the Hainan Island. The grain size is one of the main controlling factors for heavy metals distribution, and the anthropogenic activity also plays an important role.

The samples of ductile‐rheologic deformational augen granite from the Yunkai uplift area, western Guangdong province, were determined by the whole‐rock Sm‐Nd, Pb‐Pb and Rb‐Sr isotopic dating to have an Sm‐Nd isochron age of 1414±68 Ma, a Pb‐Pb isochron age of 1388±90 Ma and a Rb‐Sr isochron age of 490±36 Ma. The first two ages are interpreted as the formation age of this suite of granite and the last age represents the timing of the tectono‐thermal event of Caledonian ductile‐rheologic shear partial melting. It is indicated that in the study area not only an orogeny took place in the Caledonian, but also a more important tectono‐magmatic activity occurred in the Meso‐proterozoic there, which may be related to the subduction‐collision between the Yangtze block and Cathaysia block.

Episodic Nb–Ta mineralisation in South China: Constraints from in situ LA–ICP–MS columbite-tantalite U–Pb dating