Small horned toads are distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, Anhui, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet, Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi and other places in China, and they live in the rock crevices and grasses of mountain forests and streams at an altitude of 550 to 2400 meters. Females with small horned toads are longer than males, and females are 36 to 49 mm long. The male toad has a gray wedding mat on the back of the first and second fingers, and there are raw sacs inside; the skin of the whole body is relatively rough and scattered with particles; there are many small round warts on the side of the body; and the skin of the abdomen is relatively smooth. In ordinary life, the small horned toad is brownish red, the eardrum is brown, and the ventral surface has round spots of varying sizes; the width of the head is slightly smaller than the length of the head, and the snout end is shield-shaped and protrudes forward; the snout ridge is horn-shaped; the cheeks are slightly concave; the tympanic membrane is round; there are no plough bone teeth; the posterior end of the tongue is slightly absent; and the pupils are oval longitudinal.
The tadpole of the small horned toad is densely covered with freckles, and the lip at the top of the head is funnel-shaped.
