(Southwestern Toad)
including B.m. microscaphus (Arizona toad)
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(Southwestern Toad) including B.m. microscaphus (Arizona toad) |
| COMMON NAME: Southwestern Toad
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Bufo microscaphus
STATUS: Federal- Species of Concern (USFWS);
States- No status
RANKING: Global- Apparently secure;
States- Not provided
FOREST PRESENT: Dixie
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DESCRIPTION: The Southwestern Toad is uniformly warty toad that is normally 2 to 3 1/4 inches in length. The front of the widely separated and oval shaped parotoid glands is usually light-colored. A key characteristics is the white stripe or patch on the head, including the eyelids. Usually the sacral humps and the middle of the back are also light colored. The cranial crests are either absents or not well developed. The overall color of the Southwestern Toad is variable and harmonizes with the background substrate. The ventral surface is light colored and usually unspotted. Males do not have darker throat patch. The Arizona Toad subspecies usually has dark spots on the back and his relatively smooth skin. It is the only subspecies found in Region 4.
LIFE HISTORY: In the Intermountain
Region, the Arizona Toad is confirmed in the Dixie National Forest but
may possibly occur on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. This
toad inhabits arroyos, streams bordered by willow and cottonwoods,
washes and adjacent uplands. It can also be found along irrigation
ditches, reservoirs and in flooded fields. The Southwestern Toad
can be found up to 6,000 feet in elevation. Adults are nocturnal
except during the breeding season.
BREEDING: The height of breeding season
in Utah is June. The Southwestern Toad does not depend on rainfall
for breeding and breeds directly in streams and shallow ponds. The
eggs are laid in 1-3 rowed strings of up to 4,000 eggs and deposited on
the bottom of shallow, quiet waters among gravel, leaves, sticks, mud or
clean sand. The eggs are pigmented.
DIET: Larvae probably eat algae, organic
debris and plant tissue. Adults consume a variety of different animals
including snails, crickets, beetles, ands and sometimes cannibalize newly
emerged individuals.
VOICE: The call is a long melodious
trill, rising in pitch and pulse rate at first and then ending abruptly.
Call lasts from 6-10 seconds and given mainly at night.
USDA,
Forest Service
Federal
Building
324
25th Street
Ogden,
Utah 84401