California Reptiles & Amphibians

Bufo punctatus - Red-spotted Toad

(=Anaxyrus punctatus)

Click on a picture for a larger view

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, Santa Cruz 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