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Toad
Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientific taxonomy, but is common in popular culture (folk taxonomy), in which toads are associated with drier, rougher skin and more terrestrial habitats. List of toad families In scientific taxonomy, toads include the true toads (Bufonidae) and various other terrestrial or warty-skinned frogs. Non-bufonid "toads" can be found in the families: * Bombinatoridae ( fire-bellied toads and jungle toads) * Calyptocephalellidae (helmeted water toad and false toads) * Discoglossidae ( midwife toads) * Myobatrachidae (Australian toadlets) * Pelobatidae (European spadefoot toad) * Rhinophrynidae ( burrowing toads) * Scaphiopodidae (American spadefoot toads) * Microhylidae ( narrowmouth toads) Biology Usually the largest of the bumps on the skin ...
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Common Toad
The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in the western part of North Asia, and in a small portion of Northwest Africa. It is one of a group of closely related animals that are descended from a common ancestral line of toads and which form a species complex. The toad is an inconspicuous animal as it usually lies hidden during the day. It becomes active at dusk and spends the night hunting for the invertebrates on which it feeds. It moves with a slow, ungainly walk or short jumps, and has greyish-brown skin covered with wart-like lumps. Although toads are usually solitary animals, in the breeding season, large numbers of toads converge on certain breeding ponds, where the males compete to mate with the females. Eggs are laid in gelatinous strings in the water and later hatch out into ...
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American Toad
The American toad (''Anaxyrus americanus'') is a common species of toad found throughout Canada and the eastern United States. It is divided into three subspecies: the eastern American toad (''A. a. americanus''), the dwarf American toad (''A. a. charlesmithi'') and the rare Hudson Bay toad (''A. a. copei''). Recent taxonomic treatments place this species in the genus ''Anaxyrus'' instead of ''Bufo''. Tadpoles The eggs of the American toad are laid in two strings and can hatch in 2–14 days. When hatched the tadpoles are recognizable by their skinny tails in relation to the size of their black bodies. They may advance to adulthood in 50–65 days. When metamorphosis is completed, the "toadlets" may stay in the water for a short period of time before they become mostly land based. Often entire groups of tadpoles reach the ''toadlet'' stage at once and a mass migration to higher ground takes place usually to shaded areas of mid range and upland forests bordering the marshes from ...
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Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock, molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 Myr, million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest. Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limb ...
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American Spadefoot Toad
The Scaphiopodidae are a family of American spadefoot toads, which are native to North America. The family is small, comprising only seven different species. The American spadefoot toads are of typical shape to most fossorial (or burrowing) frogs. They are round, with short legs and protruding eyes. As suggested by their name, these frogs have hard, keratinous protrusions present on their feet, which help them to dig. Like most fossorial frogs, they dig backwards into the ground. They differ from true toads because they have vertical pupils and no parotoid gland. The American spadefoot toads are terrestrial when not underground. They are dully colored, usually a grey or dull green or brown, to aid in camouflage in their arid habitats. Taxonomy The American spadefoot toads were previously included in a broader circumscription of the family Pelobatidae, which then united Palaearctic and Neoarctic spadefoot toads in the same family. However, the American spadefoot genera were spl ...
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Fire-bellied Toad
The fire-bellied toads are a group of six species of small frogs (most species typically no longer than ) belonging to the genus ''Bombina''. The name "fire-bellied" is derived from the brightly colored red- or yellow-and-black patterns on the toads' ventral regions, which act as aposematic coloration, a warning to predators of the toads' reputedly foul taste. The other parts of the toads' skins are green or dark brown. When confronted with a potential predator, these toads commonly engage in an Unkenreflex, "Unken-" being the combining form of "Unke", German for fire-bellied toad. In the Unkenreflex, the toad arches its back, raising its front and back legs to display the aposematic coloration of its ventral side. Species The currently recognized species are: Biology The female of the species typically lays 80–300 eggs that can be found hanging off plant stems. The offspring develop in pools or puddles. Their metamorphosis is complete within a few weeks, peaking in July ...
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True Toad
A true toad is any member of the family Bufonidae, in the order Anura (frogs and toads). This is the only family of anurans in which all members are known as toads, although some may be called frogs (such as harlequin frogs). The bufonids now comprise more than 35 genera, ''Bufo'' being the best known. History Bufonidae is thought to have originated in South America. Some studies date the origin of the group to after the breakup of Gondwana, about 78 - 98 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous. In contrast, other studies have dated the origin of the group to the early Paleocene. The bufonids likely radiated out of South America during the Eocene, with the entire radiation occurring during the Eocene to Oligocene, marking an extremely rapid divergence likely facilitated by the Paleogene's changing climatic conditions. Taxonomy The following phylogeny of most genera in the family is based on Portik and Papenfuss, 2015:, Chan ''et al.'', 2016, Chandramouli ''et al.'', 2016 ...
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European Spadefoot Toad
The European spadefoot toads are a family of frogs, the Pelobatidae, with only one extant genus ''Pelobates'', containing six species. They are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa, and western Asia. Description The European spadefoot toad grows up to in length and is often inconspicuously coloured. They have squat bodies with smooth skin and eyes with vertical pupils. They are predominantly fossorial (burrowing) frogs, which dig into sandy soils. Pelobatidae frogs burrow backwards and they spend much of their time in the ground. They prefer open areas with loose soil as opposed to dense compact soil to facilitate the burrowing and have hardened protrusions on their feet to aid in digging, which is the source of the common name. They emerge from the ground during periods of rain and breed in pools, which are usually temporary. All of the species from this family have free-living, aquatic tadpoles. The eggs are laid in temporary ponds that may quickly evapo ...
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Pelobatidae
The European spadefoot toads are a family of frogs, the Pelobatidae, with only one extant genus ''Pelobates'', containing six species. They are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa, and western Asia. Description The European spadefoot toad grows up to in length and is often inconspicuously coloured. They have squat bodies with smooth skin and eyes with vertical pupils. They are predominantly fossorial (burrowing) frogs, which dig into sandy soils. Pelobatidae frogs burrow backwards and they spend much of their time in the ground. They prefer open areas with loose soil as opposed to dense compact soil to facilitate the burrowing and have hardened protrusions on their feet to aid in digging, which is the source of the common name. They emerge from the ground during periods of rain and breed in pools, which are usually temporary. All of the species from this family have free-living, aquatic tadpoles. The eggs are laid in temporary ponds that may quickly evapo ...
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European Fire-bellied Toad
The European fire-bellied toad (''Bombina bombina'') is a species of fire-bellied toad native to eastern parts of mainland Europe, where it can be found near waterbodies such as ponds and marshes. It is known for its red colored belly used to ward off predators, an example of aposematism, and its distinctive "whoop" call. Description The European fire-bellied toad is a medium sized frog, growing up to approximately . The dorsal coloration can vary from gray to brown to green, while the stomach is red with thick black Mottle, mottling. The backs of these frogs are covered in warts. When threatened by a predator, the fire-bellied toad will lift up its arms (sometimes flipping over) to expose its red coloration and show off its toxicity to the potential predator. This is known as Unkenreflex, and is an example of aposematism. Distribution The European fire-bellied toad is found throughout Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. More particularly, its range starts in eastern ...
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True Toads
A true toad is any member of the family Bufonidae, in the order Anura (frogs and toads). This is the only family of anurans in which all members are known as toads, although some may be called frogs (such as harlequin frogs). The bufonids now comprise more than 35 genera, ''Bufo'' being the best known. History Bufonidae is thought to have originated in South America. Some studies date the origin of the group to after the breakup of Gondwana, about 78 - 98 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous. In contrast, other studies have dated the origin of the group to the early Paleocene. The bufonids likely radiated out of South America during the Eocene, with the entire radiation occurring during the Eocene to Oligocene, marking an extremely rapid divergence likely facilitated by the Paleogene's changing climatic conditions. Taxonomy The following phylogeny of most genera in the family is based on Portik and Papenfuss, 2015:, Chan ''et al.'', 2016, Chandramouli ''et al.'', 2016 ...
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Burrowing Toad
The Rhinophrynidae are a family of frogs containing one extant genus, the monotypic ''Rhinophrynus'', and a number of fossil genera. The family is sometimes known as the Mexican burrowing toads or simply burrowing toads. ''Rhinophrynus'' occurs in the Central America north from Costa Rica to Mexico and Texas. Fossil finds of Rhinophrynidae come from Mexico, the United States, and Canada. ''Rhinophrynus'' is a burrowing ant and termite eater. Systematics The Rhinophrynidae are the sister taxon of the Pipidae. The clade formed by these two genera is sometimes referred to as Xenoanura or superfamily Pipoidea. Genera Extant genera: * ''Rhinophrynus'' or ''Mexican burrowing toad'' Fossil genera: * †''Chelomophrynus'' Henrici 1991 Wagon Bed Formation, Wyoming United States, Eocene * †''Eorhinophrynus'' Hecht 1959 Polecat Bench Formation, Wyoming, United States, Paleocene * †''Rhadinosteus ''Rhadinosteus parvus'' (meaning "long slender bone") is an extinct species of pre ...
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Calyptocephalella
''Calyptocephalella'' is a genus of frogs in the family Calyptocephalellidae. It is represented by a single living species, ''Calyptocephalella gayi'', commonly known as the helmeted water toad, Chilean helmeted bull frog or wide-mouth toad. Additionally, there are a few extinct species that only are known from Late Cretaceous and Paleogene fossil remains from Patagonia in South America and in the Antarctic Peninsula (at times when it was warmer and wetter). The helmeted water toad living today is aquatic to semi-aquatic, and found in deep ponds and reservoirs in central Chile and possibly adjacent west-central Argentina.AmphibiaWeb: Calyptocephalella gayi.' Retrieved 21 March 2015. This very large toad typically weighs up to , but sometimes considerably more. It's the world's second largest frog after the goliath frog. It is threatened by capture for human consumption, habitat loss, pollution, introduced species and the disease chytridiomycosis. It is often kept in herpetocultur ...
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