''Spea hammondii'', also known as the western spadefoot, western spadefoot toad, Hammond's spadefoot, or Hammond's spadefoot toad, is a species of amphibian in the family Scaphiopodidae. It is found in western

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

(USA) and northwestern

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

(Mexico). The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''hammondii'' is in honor of physician and naturalist

William Alexander Hammond William Alexander Hammond (28 August 1828 – 5 January 1900) was an American military physician and neurologist. During the American Civil War he was the eleventh Surgeon General of the United States Army (1862–1864) and the founder of the Ar ...

Description

Spea hammondii is a relatively smooth-skinned species of

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) fro ...

. Its eyes are pale gold with vertical pupils. It has a green or grey dorsum, often with skin

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...

s tipped in orange, and has a whitish color on the abdomen. On each hind foot is a wedge-shaped black spade. Adult toads are between long. Juveniles have a similar appearance to adults, but with more distinct spotting.

Distribution

Populations of ''Spea hammondii'' are localized, but widespread. It ranges throughout the central valley of

as well as the coast south of San Jose and some parts of the desert. The western spadefoot prefers grassland, scrub and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

locally but can occur in oak woodlands. It is nocturnal, and activity is limited to the wet season, summer storms, or during evenings with elevated substrate moisture levels. It is easily handled, with less skin secretions than similar

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 ...

species. Their secretions smell like

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is consumed in many countri ...

and may cause sneezing. The western spadefoot is experiencing some habitat loss, but is still common in its range and the population declines are very minor even though it is listed as "near threatened" in some counties of CA.

Diet

Tadpoles feed mainly on plants and planktonic organisms, algae, ants, small invertebrates and dead aquatic larvae of amphibians, they may become cannibalistic. Adult toads feed on insects, worms and other invertebrates including; grasshoppers, true bugs, moths, ground beetles, ladybird beetles, click beetles, spiders, flies, ants and earthworms.

Life span and reproduction

The average life span for ''Spea hammondii'' is about 12 years. They reach sexual maturity in their third year. The female spadefoot toad will lay up to 2,000 eggs per season. The cordon of eggs attaches to objects in the water or puddles or ditches and the male deposits sperm on them. Tadpoles emerge in as little as 15 hours. After hatching, the tadpole's only chance for survival is to develop into a toad before the puddle dries up, which takes 12 to 13 days. This is the fastest metamorphosis known for any frog or toad. Reproduction: the breeding of laying eggs normally occur from late winter to the end of March. Males will be heard during this period. Females lay numerous small, irregular clusters that will contain from 10 up to 42 eggs. They may lay more than 500 eggs in one season. Eggs hatching happens rapidly within two weeks.

Spawning stage

A male toad finds the female and jumps on her back, a process called

amplexus Amplexus (Latin "embrace") is a type of mating behavior exhibited by some externally fertilizing species (chiefly amphibians and horseshoe crabs) in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process, and at the same ...

.Western_Spadefoot_Toad.pdf As the female lays eggs in a long chain (cordon), the male fertilizes them. The group of eggs is called spawn. from=Q3101052 hammondii Amphibians of Mexico Amphibians of the United States Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of Baja California Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Endangered fauna of California Amphibians described in 1859 Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird