California Reptiles & Amphibians

Bufo punctatus - Red-spotted Toad

(=Anaxyrus punctatus)


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Range in California: Red

Dot-locality range map

Listen to this toad:


One short call


More sounds of
Bufo punctatus





Adult male inbetween calling from breeding pond, San Diego County
Adult, San Diego County
Adult, San Diego County
Adult, Santa Cruz County, Arizona
Adult, Pima County, Arizona
Adult, Pima County, Arizona
Underside of adult, Pima County, Arizona
Calling adult male at night,
Pima County, Arizona
Adults in amplexus, male on top, female on bottom, San Diego County
Male and female in amplexus, with eggs on bottom of pool, San Bernardino County © Todd Battey
Red-spotted Toads lay their eggs singly. Other North American toads lay their eggs in a string. © Todd Battey
Juvenile aprox. 3/4 inches in length
( 2cm ) Riverside County
Tadpole, Riverside County
Habitat, San Diego County
desert creek
Habitat, Riverside County,
runoff from desert spring
Habitat, San Diego County -
desert palm oasis


Habitat, San Diego County -
close-up of spring in desert palm oasis
 
Description
Size
Adults are 1 1/2 - 3 inches from snout to vent ( 3.8 - 7.6 cm).
Appearance
A small toad with dry, warty skin, a flattened head and body, and a pointed snout. Weak or absent cranial crests. Round parotoid glands about the size of the eye. Pupils are horizontal. Olive, brownish, light gray above, with red or orange warts, which give this toad its name. White or cream below with or without spotting. Male throat is darkened. Young have many red warts with yellow under the feet. Tadpoles begin as black with bronze flecks on the venter, then become black with faint light mottling.
Voice  (Listen)
This toad's call is a prolonged high-pitched musical trill, lasting up to 10 seconds, which is produced at night from the edge of shallow water, usually during or after rains.
Behavior
Nocturnal, remaining underground in the daytime, but occasionally seen moving about in daylight or resting at the edge of breeding pools in the breeding season. A good climber, easily climbing over rocks. Moves by walking, instead of hopping.
Diet
Eats a wide variety of invertebrates. Typical of most toads, the prey is located by vision, then a large sticky tongue is used to catch the prey and bring it into the mouth to eat.
Reproduction
Mating and egg-laying occurs from March to September in pools, springs, temporary ponds around intermittent streams. Fertilization is external. Breeding is initiated by rainfall. Bufo punctatus is the only toad in North America which lays eggs singly, instead of in a string, on the bottom of the water.
Reported to hybridize with B. b. halophilus, and B. w. woodhousii.
Range
Ranges from localized populations on the coastal slope of the peninsular range throughout the southeast of California, north to Death Valley and into Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, east into Texas and Oklahoma, and south far in to Mexico and to the tip of Baja California
Habitat
Inhabits desert streams, oases, pools in rocky arroyos, cattle tanks, grassland, oak woodland, scrubland, river floodplains. Prefers rocky areas where it can hide in cracks.
From below sea level in Death Valley to 7,200 ft. (2,200 m.)
Taxonomic Notes
This toad has been renamed Anaxyrus punctatus, but this nomenclature is not yet standard.
Conservation Issues  (Conservation Status)
None known.

Taxonomy
Family Bufonidae True Toads
Genus Bufo True Toads
Species punctatus Red-spotted Toad

Original Description
Baird and Girard, 1852 - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 6, p. 173

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

Meaning of the Scientific Name
Bufo - toad
punctatus
- Latin - spotted - refers to the spotted dorsal pattern

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

Alternate Names
Anaxyrus punctatus

Related or Similar California Frogs
B. b. halophilus
B. w. woodhousii


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.

Grismer, L. Lee. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, Including Its Pacific Islands and the Islands in the Sea of Cortés. The University of California Press, 2002.

McPeak, Ron H. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California. Sea Challengers, 2000.

Degenhardt, William G., Charles W. Painter, & Andrew H. Price. Amphibians and Reptiles of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press,1996.

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 included on the Special Animals List, meaning there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California according to the Dept. of Fish and Game.


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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