A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California

Spea intermontana - Great Basin Spadefoot - Eggs and Tadpoles

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Two mature eggs attached to a stick which was found submerged in shallow water.	Hatchling tadpole	Hatchling tadpole

Tadpole several days after hatching.	Older tadpole	Mature tadpole with back legs developing

Mature tadpole	Mature tadpole	Mature tadpole with developed back legs

Transforming tadpole with tail decreasing in length and front legs developed (and visible ) but not yet emerged. The front legs emerged one day later and the spadefoot moved to land (first picture of the following series). The following series of pictures show a recently-metamorphosed spadefoot (one of the tadpoles shown above) as it absorbs its tail over a period of 7 consecutive days

Metamorph, Day 1	Metamorph, Day 2	Metamorph, Day 3

Metamorph, Day 4	Metamorph, Day 5	Metamorph, Day 6

Metamorph, Day 7	Fully-metamorphosed juvenile, Day 15