Scaphiopus is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n
amphibianAmphibians , such as frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians, are ectothermic animals that metamorphose from a juvenile water-breathing form, to an adult air-breathing form. Though amphibians typically have four limbs, the Caecilians are notable for being limbless. Unlike other land...
commonly referred to as the
southern spadefoot toads. They differ greatly from true
toadA toad can refer to a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura. A distinction is often made between frogs and toads by their appearance, prompted by the convergent adaptation among so-called "toads" to dry habitats. Many "toads" have leathery skin for better water retention, and brown...
s (those of the family Bufonidae) by having
eyeEyes are organs that detect light, and send electrical impulses along the optic nerve to the visual and other areas of the brain. Complex optical systems with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system...
s with vertical
pupilThe pupil is an opening located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils...
s, no
parotoid glandThe parotoid gland is an external skin gland on the back, neck, and shoulder of toads and some frogs and salamanders. It secretes a milky alkaloid substance to deter predators...
, and relatively smooth
skinThe skin is the outer covering of the body. In humans, it is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of mesodermal tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, birds...
. Their most distinctive feature is a spade-like projection on their hind feet, which their common name is derived from. This projection enables spadefoot toads to dig in loose soils with ease.
Scaphiopus species were once classified with their
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an cousins in the
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
PelobatidaeThe European spadefoot toads are a family of frogs, the Pelobatidae, with only one extant genus Pelobates, containing four species. They are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa and western Asia....
, but have since been reclassified to their own family, Scaphiopodidae with other North American species.
Scaphiopus is a
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n
amphibianAmphibians , such as frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians, are ectothermic animals that metamorphose from a juvenile water-breathing form, to an adult air-breathing form. Though amphibians typically have four limbs, the Caecilians are notable for being limbless. Unlike other land...
commonly referred to as the
southern spadefoot toads. They differ greatly from true
toadA toad can refer to a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura. A distinction is often made between frogs and toads by their appearance, prompted by the convergent adaptation among so-called "toads" to dry habitats. Many "toads" have leathery skin for better water retention, and brown...
s (those of the family Bufonidae) by having
eyeEyes are organs that detect light, and send electrical impulses along the optic nerve to the visual and other areas of the brain. Complex optical systems with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system...
s with vertical
pupilThe pupil is an opening located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils...
s, no
parotoid glandThe parotoid gland is an external skin gland on the back, neck, and shoulder of toads and some frogs and salamanders. It secretes a milky alkaloid substance to deter predators...
, and relatively smooth
skinThe skin is the outer covering of the body. In humans, it is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of mesodermal tissue, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, birds...
. Their most distinctive feature is a spade-like projection on their hind feet, which their common name is derived from. This projection enables spadefoot toads to dig in loose soils with ease.
Species
Scaphiopus species were once classified with their
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an cousins in the
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
PelobatidaeThe European spadefoot toads are a family of frogs, the Pelobatidae, with only one extant genus Pelobates, containing four species. They are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa and western Asia....
, but have since been reclassified to their own family, Scaphiopodidae with other North American species. There are three
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
in the genus
Scaphiopus:
- Couch's Spadefoot, Scaphiopus couchii
The Couch's Spadefoot Toad, is a species of North American spadefoot toad native to the southwestern United States and the Baja region of Mexico...
(BairdSpencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist and ichthyologist.-Biography:Baird was born in Reading, Pennsylvania...
, 1854)
- Eastern Spadefoot, Scaphiopus holbrookii
The Eastern Spadefoot is a type of toad found in North America. It has one spur on each of its back feet for burrowing. It spends almost all of its life deep underground; coming out only to breed, and sometimes eat. It remains in a type of hibernation almost all its life. It burrows in a spiral,...
(HarlanRichard Harlan was an American naturalist, zoologist, physicist and paleontologist.Harlan was the author of Fauna Americana and American Herpetology. He was born at Philadelphia and graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1821 he was elected professor of comparative anatomy in...
, 1835)
- Hurter's Spadefoot, Scaphiopus hurterii
Hurter's Spadefoot Toad is a species of spadefoot toad found in the south central United States and northern Mexico. It was once classified as a subspecies of the eastern spadefoot toad, but it has been granted its own species status...
(Strecker, 1910)
Geographic range
Spadefoot toads are found throughout the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and into northern
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. They tend to prefer dry, grassland areas with loose, sandy soils that flood in the rainy season.
Description
Scaphiopus are generally colored appropriately with
greenGreen is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
s and
brownBrown is a color term, denoting a wide range of composite colors produced by a mixture of orange, red or yellow with black. The term is from Old English brún, in origin denoting any dusky or dark shade of color....
s to
camouflageCamouflage is a method of crypsis that allows an otherwise visible organism or object to remain indiscernible from the surrounding environment through deception. Examples include a tiger's stripes and the battledress of a modern soldier...
themselves in their native habitat. At adult size they are usually not much larger than 8 cm.
Behaviour, Diet & Reproduction
Spadefoot toads are nocturnal and are rarely seen when it hasn't rained recently. They spend most of the time during the
dry seasonThe dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
buried in the ground in aestivation. When it rains, they emerge to feed on
invertebrateAn invertebrate is an animal without a vertebral column. The group includes 95% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata ....
s and to breed in
vernal poolVernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are temporary pools of water. They are usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species...
s. They have one of the fastest reproductive cycles of any amphibian species. Once laid,
eggIn most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo. When the embryo is adequately developed it breaks out of the egg in the...
s hatch in a matter of a day or two. The
tadpoleA tadpole, polliwog , or pollywiggle is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly of a frog or toad.- Appellation :The name "tadpole" is from Middle English taddepol, made up of the elements tadde, "toad", and...
s are capable of developing to froglets within a couple of weeks. This feature is primarily due to fact that most of their breeding areas dry quickly once the rainy season is over.
Related species
Genus SpeaSpea is a genus of North American amphibian commonly referred to as the western spadefoot toad. They differ greatly from true toads by having eyes with vertical pupils, no parotoid gland, and relatively smooth skin. Their most distinctive feature is a spade-like projection on their hind feet,...
- Plains Spadefoot, Spea bombifrons
The Plains Spadefoot Toad is a species of spadefoot toad which ranges from southwestern Canada, throughout the Great Plains of the western United States, and into northern Mexico...
(CopeEdward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope quickly distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of...
, 1863)
- Western Spadefoot Spea hammondii
The Western spadefoot toad is a relatively smooth-skinned species of toad. Its eyes are pale gold with vertical pupils. It has a green or grey dorsum often with skin tubercles tipped in orange, and it is a whitish color on the ventrum. It has a wedge-shaped black spade on each hind foot...
(BairdSpencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist and ichthyologist.-Biography:Baird was born in Reading, Pennsylvania...
, 1859)
- Great Basin Spadefoot, Spea intermontana (Cope
Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope quickly distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of...
, 1883)
- Mexican Spadefoot, Spea multiplicata
The New Mexico Spadefoot Toad is a species of American spadefoot toad found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Like other species of spadefoot toad, they get their name from a distinctive spade-like projections on their hind legs which enable them to dig in sandy soils...
(CopeEdward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope quickly distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of...
, 1863)