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The long-nosed horned frog, Megophrys nasuta, is a heavyset rainforest frog best known for the pointed, triangular projections above each eye and at the tip of its snout that give the species its name. Found in rainforests of southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia south to Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo, it spends its life low on the forest floor, where its shape and colour turn it into little more than a dead leaf until something edible wanders close.
Identification
The species shows a marked size difference between the sexes: females reach about 127 mm in length, while males are markedly smaller, rarely more than half the female size; the facts box carries the full figure. The body is broad and flattened, coloured in mottled browns and tans that mimic dead foliage, and the skin along the flanks and limbs is drawn into ridges and folds that break up its outline still further. The two “horns” above the eyes and the fleshy point at the nose are the clearest field marks, unmatched by any other frog sharing its range.
Habitat and range
M. nasuta keeps to permanently damp, cool lowland and submontane rainforest, among leaf litter on the forest floor, often near small streams. The same cool, damp forest-floor setting, close to running water, is confirmed by Animal Diversity Web. It relies on an intact, shaded leaf-litter layer rather than open or disturbed ground, which makes it a useful indicator of forest condition across its Sundaland range.
Behaviour and breeding
The frog is a sit-and-wait ambush predator: its leaf-like camouflage lets it sit motionless among fallen leaves, nearly invisible to both prey and predators, until something suitable passes within striking range. It is most active at night and on the ground, rarely climbing, and depends on the small streams that thread its rainforest habitat for breeding, laying eggs in or near slow-moving water typical of leaf-litter frogs in the region.
Conservation
The species’ facts box carries its current IUCN Red List category, Least Concern, reflecting a wide Sundaland range across southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo. That status does not remove the pressure on individual populations: like other leaf-litter specialists in the region, it depends on intact rainforest, and deforestation for logging and agriculture remains the main long-term threat across parts of its range.
Similar species
Other horned frogs in the genus Megophrys share the same leaf-mimicking body plan, but M. nasuta is set apart by the combination of a pronounced nasal projection with horn-like points above both eyes — a silhouette no other frog across its Sundaland range duplicates. Within the leaf litter it shares with true toads and other ground-dwelling frogs, the horns and flattened, foliage-coloured body are usually enough to identify it on sight.