''Duttaphrynus scaber'' (common names: Schneider's (dwarf) toad, and for the now-synonymized ''Bufo fergusonii'', Ferguson's toad and Boulenger's burrowing 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 {{Cat main, Toad This category contains both species commonly called toads, and the true toads from the family Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, cat ...

. It is found in peninsular

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. ''Bufo fergusonii'', now synonymized with ''Duttaphrynus scaber'', was named after Harold S. Ferguson who collected the type specimen.Boulenger, G. A. 1892. Description of a new toad from Travancore. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 7: 317. Davidraju_D

''Duttaphrynus scaber'' is a widespread and common toad in India and Sri Lanka up to elevations of about

asl American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...

. It is a terrestrial species that occurs in various habitats: wet evergreen tropical forest, tropical dry forest, dry scrubland, grassland, coastal marshes and rural farmland areas. Adult toads are generally found under ground cover, except during the breeding season when they are found in grasslands close to waterbodies. The

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

s develop in stagnant waters. In parts of its range, ''Duttaphrynus scaber'' is seriously threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

caused by deforestation, pollution, and urbanization.

References

scaber Frogs of India Frogs of Sri Lanka Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Amphibians described in 1799 {{Bufonidae-stub