The Miyako toad (''Bufo gargarizans miyakonis'') is a subspecies of the Asiatic toad that is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to the Miyako Islands, in the Ryūkyū Islands of Japan.

Taxonomy

In 1927, Japanese zoologist Okada Yaichirō included ''Bufo bufo miyakonis'' ( Schlegel) in a study of the country's "tailless batrachians"; however, no further details were provided, making this a ''

nomen nudum In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...

''. The Miyako toad was first described, as ''Bufo bufo miyakonis'', ''i.e.'', as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the Common toad, by Okada in 1931, with Miyako-jima in the Ryūkyū Islands given as the type locality. In 1947,

Inger Inger may refer to: People * Inger (given name), a list of people * Inger, the main character of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale ''The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf'' * Robert F. Inger (1920–2019), American herpetologist * Stella Inger, America ...

, arguing that Okada did not sufficiently distinguish his new subspecies from the Asiatic toad of China, treated this

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...

as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''Bufo bufo gargarizans''. In 1980, ''et al.'', based on laboratory

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

, recommended the toad be treated as a subspecies of the

Japanese common toad The Japanese common toad, Japanese warty toad or Japanese toad (''Bufo japonicus'') is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are subarctic forests, temperate forests, temperate shrubland, swamps ...

, as ''Bufo japonicus miyakonis''. In 1984, concluded the Miyako toad was a subspecies of the Asiatic toad, ''i.e.'', ''Bufo gargarizans miyakonis''. In its native Japan, the toad's vernacular name is . Though sometimes thought to have been introduced, a

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of ...

fossil

bufonid 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 ...

has been identified from Miyako-jima.

Description

The Miyako toad is somewhat warty, but less so than the

. It has a grey-brown to reddish-brown back with some paler spots and stripes, and a whitish belly with some black spots. Males have a

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

(SVL) of , with a mean of , while females are a little larger, at , mean of . Its width is around 36% of its SVL, its hand and arm length, 44%, the length of its tibia, 35% in males and 33% in females, and its relatively flat parotoid gland, c. 17%. Males have black

nuptial pad A nuptial pad (also known as thumb pad, or nuptial excrescence) is a secondary sex characteristic present on some mature male frogs and salamanders. Triggered by androgen hormones, this breeding gland (a type of mucous gland) appears as a spiked ...

s. There is no vocal sac.

Distribution and habitat

The Miyako toad is

to Miyako-jima and Irabu-jima in the Miyako Islands, where it lives among the grasses and fields of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

, but has also been introduced to

Okinawa Island is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region. It is the smallest and least populated of the five main islands of Japan. The island is approximately long, an average wide, and has an ...

as well as Kitadaitō-jima and Minamidaitō-jima in the Daitō Islands.

Ecology

The Miyako toad's diet largely comprises small invertebrates such as ants, beetles, snails, and worms. The breeding season runs from September to March. Its mating call includes five distinct notes, lasting in total some 1.5 seconds. Females lay some twelve to fourteen thousand eggs, some in diameter. The small dark tadpoles reach a length of around ; the SVL on

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

, which occurs after March, is .

Conservation

The Miyako toad is classed as Near Threatened on the Ministry of the Environment Red List.

References