Plains Spadefoot (Spea bombifrons)
Description: The plains spadefoot toad generally grows from 1.5 to 2.5 inches in length, has a round body, with relatively short legs. These toads are usually a tannish to dark brownish color with visible orange spots. They are one of the easiest toads to recognize in their region because of their appearance looking more like a frog. Sometimes, they have light striping on their backs.
Habitat: Frogs can only live where the ground is suitable for burrowing, and reproduce within 1 km of where they aestivate. Like all frogs, they are immobilized by low temperatures. This species prefers to burrow near large objects such as logs or rocks. They like to live near a water source, but this can be a subterranean patch of wet sand.
Range: This species is found throughout the Midwest from Alberta to Mexico wherever there is suitable soil for a fossorial lifestyle.
Diet: eats a variety of invertebrates including ants and beetles. Another favorite is the earthworm.
Reproduction: Breeding takes place in temporary pools of water left by rainfall, which requires the tadpoles to metamorphose quickly, before the water dries up. Eggs, laid in clutches numbering from 10 to 250, often hatch within 48 hours of being laid, and the larvae can change into tadpoles in as little as two weeks. The tadpoles exhibit phenotypic plasticity, with some changing from an omnivorous morphology into a cannibalistic carnivorous morph with oversized jaw muscles and pronged beaks.
Status: In Alberta it is on the Blue List, which means it is considered at risk, or vulnerable. At the same time, this is a very common though seldom seen anuran in the United States.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Amphibia - Amphibians
»» Order: Anura - Frogs & Toads
»» Family: Scaphiopodidae - American Spadefoot Toads
»» Genus: Spea
»» Species: Spea bombifrons - Plains Spadefoot
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Plains Spadefoot Toad", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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