''Sclerophrys regularis'', commonly known as the African common toad, square-marked toad, African toad, Egyptian toad, African bouncing toad (due to the bouncing motion) and Reuss's toad, is a species of
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 scientif ...
in the family
Bufonidae. It is found widely in the
Subsaharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African ...
, with its range extending to the oases in Algeria and Libya as well as to northern Nilotic Egypt.
Specifically, it is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Uganda.
Description
The African common toad is a large sturdy toad with a warty skin. Males grow to a snout-to-vent length of and females reach . The
paratoid glands are large and either parallel or kidney-shaped and the male has a single vocal sac under the chin. The dorsal surface is dark olive-brown with dark patches on the back, often arranged fairly symmetrically, and in younger animals, there is a paler band along the spine. There are smaller dark blotches on the upper lip and the eyelids, and the warts on the flanks are often separated by dark markings. The throats of males are black and the underparts of both sexes are white to beige. The call is a rattling sound made up of two pulses and lasting for about 0.9 second.
When threatened, they would bounce to confuse (or escape) predators and would also move through water. They also have webbed hind feet to propel through water.
Habitat
The African common toad is an abundant species found in both moist and dry
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
, montane grassland, forest margins, and agricultural habitats. It is often found near rivers, where it also breeds. It is not a forest species but in the forest zone it can still be found in degraded habitats and towns (including gardens). In drier areas it is replaced by other species such as ''
Amietophrynus garmani
''Sclerophrys garmani'', also known as Garman's toad or eastern olive toad (among others), is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is widely distributed in East and Southern Africa. However, populations north and south of Tanzania might ...
'' and ''
Amietophrynus xeros
The subdesert toad (''Amietophrynus xeros'') is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is found in Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, ...
''.
Status
The African common toad is a common species across most of its wide range. It is an adaptable species and the population is stable so the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
has listed its conservation status as being of
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
.
It has sometimes been exploited to the pet trade.
In captivity
African common toads are popular as pets. Keeping 2 or more will require a minimum of a 20-gallon terrarium.
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q28933022, from2=Q575471
regularis
Amphibians described in 1933
Amphibians of Sub-Saharan Africa
Amphibians of Angola
Amphibians of Ethiopia
Amphibians of Kenya
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot