California Reptiles & Amphibians

Bufo boreas halophilus - California Toad

(=Anaxyrus boreas halophilus - Southern California Toad)


Click on a picture for a larger view





Range in California: Red

Click the map for a guide
to the other subspecies.

Listen to this toad:


One short call


More sounds of
Bufo boreas halophilus




Adult, San Bernardino County
Sub-adult, San Bernardino County
Sub-adult, San Bernardino County
Adult, Riverside County
Adult, Borrego Valley, San Diego County
Sub-adult, Stanislaus County
Adult from Afton Canyon, San Bernardino County
These three adult toads were photographed at night as they sat on the vegetation of a small pond in Los Angeles county.
Adult, Riverside County
Adult, Stanislaus County
Adult, Darwin Falls, Inyo County
This tiny juvenile toad was found at Darwin Falls, Inyo County, where hypbrids with Red-spotted Toads - Bufo punctatus have been found. While it resembles a California Toad, it appears to be a hybrid since it lacks a dorsal stripe and has less oval and more rounded parotid glands, similar to the Red-spotted Toad. © Ceal Klingler
Adult, San Diego County
Adult, Riverside County
Sub-adult, Stanislaus County - showing bright pads on bottom of feet.
Adult, possible intergrade with
B. b. boreas
, Shasta County
Toads usually move by walking or crawling, while true frogs typically hop.
Close-up showing large oval parotoid
glands behind the eyes.
Congregation of breeding adults, February, Contra Costa County
© Joyce Gross
Amplexing adults, Kern County
© Henk Wallays
Adults in amplexus , Orange County
© Jason Jones
Male toads in a breeding pond, apparently attempting to amplex a catfish in Alameda County. © Andy Hatch
Sub-adult, Riverside County
Fully metamorphosed toadlet
Newly metamorphosed toadlet with some tail remaining, Contra Costa County
After transforming from tadpoles, thousands of tiny toad metamorphs can often be found around the banks of breeding ponds. Contra Costa County
Eggs and Tadpoles
Tadpoles in breeding pond,
Contra Costa County
Tadpoles, San Bernardino County
Tadpoles, San Bernardino County
Tadpole in pond, Contra Costa County
Tadpole in water, Contra Costa County
Tadpole in water, Contra Costa County
Tadpole in water, Contra Costa County
Mature tadpole with hind legs, in water, Contra Costa County
Mature tadpole with four legs, in water
Contra Costa County
   
 
Egg strings on pond, Orange County
© Jason Jones
 
Habitat
Habitat, desert river wetlands, Afton Canyon, San Bernardino County
Habitat, desert spring, Darwin Falls, Inyo County
Habitat, Los Angeles County pond
Habitat, cattle pond in oak grassland, 1,400 ft., Contra Costa County
Habitat, San Bernardino County creek
Habitat, pond in Sierra Nevada Mountains, 4,500 ft., Kern County
Habitat, seasonal pool in Central Valley Grasslands, Merced County

Habitat, small creek in Coast Range foothills, 500 ft., Stanislaus County

Habitat, wetlands at 2,000 ft., Santa Rosa Plateau, Riverside County
 
Desert riparian habitat, San Diego County
Habitat, San Bernardino County creek
 
Short Video
This toad moves across the wet ground both by crawling and by hopping.
Description
Size
Adults grow to 2 - 5 inches from snout to vent ( 5.1 - 12.7 cm).
Appearance
Large and robust with dry, warty skin. No cranial crests. Oval parotoid glands. Tarsal fold is well-developed. Pupils are horizontal. Coloring is greenish, tan, reddish brown, dusky gray, and yellow above with a light-colored stripe down the middle of the back. Warts are often rusty and set on dark blotches. Males are usually less blotched than females and have smoother skin. Male and female throats are pale. Young have no dorsal stripe immediately after transformation.
There are fewer dark blotches on the belly than on B. b. boreas. The head is also wider with larger eyes with less distance between the upper eyelids and the feet are also smaller than B. b. boreas. (Stebbins)
Voice   (Listen)
Male California Toads do not have a pronounced vocal sac, but they do make a call during breeding aggregations. Their call has been described as a high-pitched plinking sound, like the peeping of a chick, repeated seveal times. The sound of a group of males calling has been compared to the sound of a distant flock of geese.

Calls are produced at night and during the day during the short breeding season. Males make their call primarily when they are in close contact with other males. Rather than being advertisement calls made to attract females, these calls are generally considered encounter or aggressive calls, or release calls, which serve to maintain territory and spacing between males. The calls may also serve other purposes - a lone male toad has been observed calling.1  It could also be possible that female toads are attracted to the sounds of male encounter calls, and can judge a male's condition by his call, similar to the function of an advertisement call.

Unreceptive females may also produce a release call when grasped on the back by a male. Males and females sometimes make a release call when grabbed across the back by a human hand.
Behavior
Diurnal and nocturnal. Often diurnal after winter emergence, becoming nocturnal in the summer after breeding.
Toads are not territorial except when breeding. Amplexing males will kick away other males, and males may briefly fight other males at breeding sites.
For defense, this toad relies on parotoid glands and warts which can secrete a poison that deters some predators. Other predators are immune to the poison, and will consume toads. Still other predators such as ravens have learned to avoid the poisons by eating only their viscera through the stomach.
Slow moving, often with a walking or crawling motion along with short hops.
Toads have been reported living at least 9 years.
Diet
Diet consists of a wide variety of invertebrates. The prey is located by vision, then the toad lunges with a large sticky tongue to catch the prey and bring it into the mouth to eat. Tadpoles consume algae and detritus, including the scavenged carrion of fish and other tadpoles.
Reproduction and Young
Reproduction is aquatic. Fertilization is external. Adults are mature enough to breed when they are 4 - 6 years old. They breed shortly after they emerge from their hibernation sites and migrate to the breeding wetlands, using scent cues to find their way. In some areas, breeding occurs after snowmelt when breeding ponds refill with water. Mating and egg-laying can occur any time from January to early July, depending on the elevation and winter snow levels.

Egg-laying takes place in still or barely moving waters of seasonal pools, ponds, streams, and small lakes.
Eggs are laid in long strings with double rows, averaging 5,200 eggs in a clutch. Fresh eggs contain some of the toads toxin to protect them from predation, but this poison decreases over time. Eggs hatch in 3 to 10 days, often longer in the colder waters of higher elevations.

Large schools of tadpoles often feed in shallow water. Tadpoles are dark brown, and grow to about 1 inch in length before metamorphosis. Tadpole development also depends on water temperature; tadpoles enter metamorphosis in 30 - 45 days, usually in late summer or early fall. In years of extreme winter weather, this might be only a few weeks before snow begins to accumulate again. When in the process of metamorphosis, many tadpoles are often seen in aggregations at the edge of a pond. Large numbers of newly-transformed toads are often seen hopping around the shores of breeding water. They may stay and spend the winter at the border of their natal wetland, or they may disperse to nearby sites away from the pond.
Range
This subspecies ranges throughout most of California, from the northern forests east into west central Nevada, and south through most of the state east of the deserts, into northern Baja California. Not present in most of the central high Sierra Nevada mountains where B. canorus is present, except south of Kaiser Pass, Fresno county. Isolated desert wetlands populations include Afton Canyon, Darwin Falls, Grapevine Canyon, the Newberry Mountains, and California City, where the toads were probably introduced.
Habitat
Inhabits a variety of habitats, including marshes, springs, creeks, small lakes, meadows, woodlands, forests, and desert riparian areas. In the spring and early summer, toads are often found at the edge of water, sometimes basking on rocks and logs. At other times of the year they are also found farther from the water where they spend much of their time in moist terrestrial habitats.Toads use rodent holes, rock chambers, and root system hollow as refuges from heat and cold.
Bufo boreas is found from sea level to over 11,800 ft. (3,600 m.)
Taxonomic Notes
Two subspecies of Bufo boreas are recognized in California -Bufo boreas halophilus, and Bufo boreas boreas.
(Bufo nelsoni
has also been treated as a subspecies of Bufo boreas: B. b. nelsoni, but this is controversial.)
Bufo boreas halophilus
has been renamed Anaxyrus boreas halophilus, but this nomenclature is not yet standard.
Conservation Issues  (Conservation Status)
Bufo boreas is becoming uncommon in many areas of the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains and other areas, probably due to environmental changes caused by habitat loss, especially loss of wetlands, and chemical contamination of wetlands. Toads are also slow-moving and are frequently run over by traffic as they cross roads at night during their breeding migrations, which could also contribute to their loss.
Taxonomy
Family Bufonidae True Toads
Genus Bufo True Toads
Species boreas Western Toad
Subspecies halophilus California Toad

Original Description
Bufo boreas Baird and Girard, 1852 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 174
Bufo boreas halophilus Baird and Girard, 1853 California Toad

from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz

Meaning of the Scientific Name
Bufo - Toad
Boreas - Greek meaning north wind or northern - which refers to the northern range
Halos - Greek - sea, salt
Philos - Greek - having an affinity for - refers to its coastal distribution

from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz

Alternate Names
Anaxyrus boreas halophilus - Southern California Toad

Related or Similar California Frogs
Bufo boreas boreas
Bufo californicus

Bufo woodhousii
Bufo canorus
Bufo exsul

More Information and References
Natureserve Explorer

California Dept. of Fish and Game

AmphibiaWeb

Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.

Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.

Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Amphibians of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.

Elliott, Lang, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson. Frogs and Toads of North America, a Comprehensive Guide to their Identification, Behavior, and Calls. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Lannoo, Michael (Editor). Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, June 2005.

Wright, Anna. Handbook of Frogs and Toads of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press, 1949.


Davidson, Carlos. Booklet to the CD Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast - Vanishing Voices. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, 1995.
Conservation Status

The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.

This toad is not on the Special Animals List. There are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.`

Organization
Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)
California Department of Fish and Game
Bureau of Land Management
USDA Forest Service
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List




 


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