Description: Adults of the Mexican burrowing toad grow to be between 3.0 to 3.3 inches. (snout-vent length). R. dorsalis are sexually dimorphic, with females being larger than males. It is characterized by a short, stout, globular-shaped body and conical-shaped head. The color of its smooth skin ranges from shades of dark-gray to maroon-brown on its top surface, which is covered in irregular spots of pale yellow, orange, and red markings and has a red stripe along the center of its back. The tips of their terminal phalanges are blunt, and keratinized spades on the inside of each hind foot aid it in digging. The snout is covered in epidermal armor of small keratinous spines and the lips are doubled sealed by secretions from submandibular glands. Its eyes are relatively small, and the tympanum is not visible. Unique among the frogs, the Mexican burrowing toad's tongue is projected directly out the front of the mouth, instead of being flipped out, as in all other frogs as a specialization for eating subterranean arthropods, primarily ants and termites. Their skull has a single frontoparietal, they have 8 presacral notochordal vertebrae, all opisthocoelous; bulging outward on the anterior side and depressed inward on the posterior side.
Habitat: Terrestrial and nocturnal. Remain in fairly small areas.
Range: In the lowlands from Texas to Yucatan and Honduras, west coast from the Rio Balsas, Mexico, to Costa Rica. Barely enters the United States.
Diet: Eats insects, especially termites (which it licks up with its tongue), and other invertebrates.
Reproduction:R. dorsalis are considered "explosive breeders", also characteristic of other burrowing Anura, whereby many individuals exit their burrows synchronously and converge upon temporary pools of water. For the majority of the year, R. dorsalis lives underground and only emerges with the first heavy rains of the year. The males then float on the surface of the water, partially submerged, and inflate their bodies while calling that will eventually result in most males mating with females using inguinal amplexus. Although the mating season of explosive breeders is restricted to a short period each year, R. dorsalis has one of the shortest seasons among amphibians of between 1-3 days, after which they will burrow back into the ground once the environment has dried up and remain until the next breeding season. Intraspecific competition between males for females rarely involves agonistic interactions, but instead relies on acoustic communication. Females of R. dorsalis are thought to choose mates based on characteristics of their mating calls, also referred to as advertisement calls. These calls last 1.36 (+/- 0.12) seconds and are characterized by a single tone that is upward modulated. This call sounds like a loud, low-pitched "wh-o-o-o-a". Preceding the advertisement call are another type of vocalization known as pre-advertisement marked by a single sound only 0.25 +(+/- 0.09) seconds that instead do not modulate. As a newly documented call, the function of this vocalization type is currently unknown but is thought to play a role in aggression or act as a close-range signal for other males.
When the female is laying eggs, both male and female are underwater. Between 6 to 12 eggs come out of her cloaca successively, whose sticky surfaces will clump together on the bottom surface. The eggs take only a few days to hatch, and the tadpoles develop over one to three months.
Status: It looks somewhat like a narrow-mouthed toad of giant size. This species is the only living representative of its family, the Rhinophrynidae.
DISCLAIMER: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated websites.
Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
){kind=link}