The toads, a new species of Leptobrachium leucops, or
Eastern Spadefoot Toads, were found in the evergreen forest between 1558-1900 m
above sea-level on the Lang Bian Plateau in Lam Dong and Khanh Hoa provinces.

Leptobrachium leucops is nocturnal, has a length of 4.5 cm
and have partly white pupils, ridges on their skin and several stripes on their
four limbs.

The megophryid frog genus Leptolalax is a relatively
recently described genus of about 29 species in Asia that often inhabit the
forest floor near rocky streams in hilly topography, covered with evergreen
forest.

There has been a rapid increase in the number of known
Leptolalax species in recent years, with 21 of the known species described in
the past two decades.

Eleven species have been reported from Indochina and all but two of those also have been
reported from Vietnam.

Vietnamese Leptolalax are known to exist in the suitable
habitat in northern and central Vietnam,
and records to date show their southernmost
habitats to be in the Kon Tum Plateau.

The same team recently discovered a new species of
Rhacophorus vampyrus or Vampire Tree Frogs in the same national park after
several field studies from 2008 to 2010.

PV