Scaphiopus holbrookii

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

A small, froglike toad with vertical pupils. On the back of each hind foot , the Eastern Spadefoot has one black spade. Coloring is variable, often similar to the soil of their habitat . Spends the majority of its time buried, emerging to feed at night or under very moist daytime conditions.

Many people have reported severe allergic reactions to the skin-gland secretions of the spadefoot. For this reason, thorough handwashing is advised after handling .

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Physical Description

Habitat

Found in areas of sandy or loose soil within hardwood and mixed forests and coastal pine forests.

Typically found in a lake at a mean distance from sea level of -10 meters (-33 feet).[1]

Ecology: Areas of sandy, gravelly, or soft, light soils in wooded or unwooded terrain. Burrows underground when inactive . Eggs and larvae develop in temporary pools formed by heavy rains.[2].

List of Habitats :

• 1 Forest
• 1.4 Forest - Temperate
• 3 Shrubland
• 3.4 Shrubland - Temperate
• 4 Grassland
• 4.4 Grassland - Temperate
• 5 Wetlands (inland)
• 5.8 Wetlands (inland) - Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)

Biology

Diet

The Spadefoot Toad is carnivorous , and is an opportunistic feeder . It eats insects, earthworms, and other small organisms .

Reproduction

This toad lives in sandy, often fairly dry habitats and spends the majority of its time buried in the soil. When heavy rains in the spring and summer soak the soil and form temporary ponds , this triggers the emergence of large numbers of these toads from the ground . Their call is a low-pitched grunt and is often said to resemble that of a crow or a bleating sheep.

Mating and egg-laying take place quickly. Eggs are laid in the shallow, temporary pools ; speed of development is variable and is related to the speed with which the pools shrink and dry up. Transformation from egg to tiny toad can occur within as little as two weeks. When growth and transformation are this rapid, the new adults are much smaller than normal.

Behavior

Most of the time, this species lives in relatively dry regions underground. They remain underground for very long periods of time and can only be sighted after heavy downpours or during wet periods of the summer months (March to September). In dry weather they use the spades on their hing feet to dig in areas with loose soil. The spadefoot is strictly nocturnal .

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Rana albus (Garman • Rana holbrookii albus (Garman • Rana holbrookii Harlan

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 01-Sep-2009

Scaphiopus hurterii formerly was regarded as a subspecies of S. holbrookii, but recent checklists (Crother et al. 2000; Collins and Taggart 2002) have treated it as a distinct species. García-Paris et al. (2003) used mtDNA to examine the phylogentic relationships of Pelobatoidea and found that the family Pelobatidae, as previously defined, is not monophyletic (Pelobates is sister to Megophryidae, not to Spea/Scaphiopus). They separated the Pelobatidae into two families: Eurasian spadefoot toads (Pelobates), which retain the name Pelobatidae; and North American spadefoot toads (Scaphiopus, Spea), which make up the revived family Scaphiopodidae.[2].

Similar Species

No other species of frog or toad has vertical pupils.

Members of the genus Scaphiopus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species and subspecies in this genus:

S. couchii (Couch's Spadefoot Toad) · S. couchii couchii (Couch's Spadefoot Toad) · S. holbrookii (Eastern Spadefoot Toad) · S. holbrookii holbrookii (Eastern Spadefoot) · S. holbrookii hurterii (Hurter's Spadefoot) · S. hurterii (Hurters Spadefoot)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A check list of North American amphibians and reptiles / by Leonhard Stejneger and Thomas Barbour. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1933. url p. 26.
• Animal Ecology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1961. url p. 466.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. url p. 97.
• Annual report of the New Jersey State Museum. Trenton, N.J.: MacCrellish & Quigley, url , p. 404, p. 92, p. 96.
• Annual report of the New York Zoological Society. New York: New York Zoological Society, 1897- url p. 86.
• Asiatic herpetological research. 7 1997 Berkeley, Calif.: Asiatic Herpetological Research Society; c1990- url fig. 1, page 73, fig. 2, page 74, p. 76.
• Bulletin - New York State Museum. Albany: New York State Education Dept. url p. 404, p. 413.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 237.
• Bulletin / Illinois Natural History Survey. Urbana, State of Illinois, Dept. of Registration and Education, Natural History Survey Division, 1918-1985. url p. 69.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 93 1943 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url index, p. [217]-260, page 217.
• Catalogue of New York reptiles and batrachians, Albany, University of the state of New York, 1902. url , .
• Catalogue of the Batrachia Salientia s. Ecaudata in the. .. British Museum. London, 1882. url p. 434.
• Central Asiatic Expeditions of the American Museum of Natural History, under the leadership of Roy Chapman Andrews: preliminary contributions in geology, palaeontology, and zoology / by R.C. Andrews. .. [et al.] [New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1926-1930]. url p. 10, p. 5, p. 6.
• College zoology [by] Robert W. Hegner [and] Karl A. Stiles. New York, Macmillan[1959] url p. 404.
• Comparative embryology of the vertebrates; with 2057 drawings and photos. grouped as 380 illus. New York, Blakiston[1953] url , p. 973.
• Final report. v. 1-8. Trenton, 1888-1917. url p. 650.
• Handbook of frogs and toads. .. of the United States and Canada. Ithaca, N.Y.Comstock Pub. Co., 1933. url , p. 15, p. 16, p. 41, p. 44.
• Herpetology of Missouri. St. Louis, 1911. url p. 111, p. 253.
• Journal of morphology. Boston: Ginn & Co., [1887-1924] url p. 151, p. 152, p. 68.
• Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1817-1918. url p. 206, p. 82.
• Life-histories of the frogs of Okefinokee swamp, Georgia; North American Salientia (Anura) no.2; by Albert Hazen Wright. New York, The Macmillan company, 1931. url , , , , , , , , , p. 10, p. 101, p. 106, p. 13, p. 146, p. 17, p. 25, p. 29, p. 33, p. 34, p. 36, p. 37, p. 42, p. 472, p. 494, p. 59, p. 65, p. 66, p. 68, p. 73, p. 74, p. 78, p. 79, p. 83, p. 85, p. 89, p. 95, p. 96.
• Louisiana herpetology, with a checklist of the batrachians and reptiles of the state and the avifauna of Louisiana, with an annotated list of the birds of the state / by George E. Beyer. New Orleans: [s.n.]1900. url p. 12.
• Manual of the vertebrates of the northern United States, including the district east of the Mississippi River, and north of North Carolina and Tennessee, exclusive of marine species. Chicago, Jansen, McClurg, 1884. url p. 189.
• Museum paper / Alabama Museum of Natural History. University, Ala.: Alabama Museum of Natural History, 1910-1960. url p. 16.
• Museum paper. University, Ala. [etc.]1910- url p. 16.
• Nature study and life / by Clifton F. Hodge. Boston; Ginn & Company, c1902. url p. 299, p. 510.
• Nature study and life, Boston and London, Ginn & Co., 1902. url , .
• Nature study and life, by Clifton F. Hodge. Boston, Ginn & Co., 1902. url p. 510.
• Occasional papers of the Boston Society of Natural History. Boston, Boston Society of Natural History, 1869-1941. url .
• On the structures and distribution of the genera of the arciferous Anura / by Edward D. Cope. [Philadelphia?: s.n., 1866?]. url p. 82.
• Phylogenetic relationships of extant pelobatoid frogs (Anura:Pelobatoidea): evidence from adult morphology / by Anne M. Maglia. 1998 Lawrence, Kan.: Natural History Museum, The University of Kansas, [1998] url p. 16, p. 6.
• Postilla. 2004 New Haven, Conn.: Peabody Museum of Natural History, [1950?]-c2004. url p. 1, p. 13.
• Proceedings - Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences. Staten Island, N.Y., Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences. url p. 249, p. 48.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia url p. 14, p. 85.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Washington, Biological Society of Washington url p. 203, p. 204.
• Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. Indianapolis, Ind.[s.n.] url .
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 3, p. 68, p. 69.
• Report. New York url p. 85.
• Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Made under the direction of the secretary of war, in 1853-[6]. .. Washington, A.O.P. Nicholson, Printer [etc.]1855-60. url , p. 12.
• Science. New York, N.Y.: [s.n.]1880- url p. 20.
• Smithsonian contributions to knowledge. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1848-1916. url .
• Smithsonian herpetological information service. Washington: Division of Reptiles and Amphibians, U.S. National Museum. url p. 29, p. 3, p. 35, p. 36, p. 36, p. 61.
• South Carolina. Resources and population. Institutions and industries. Pub. by the State Board of Agriculture of South Carolina. Charleston, S.C.Walker, Evans & Cogswell, printers, 1883. url p. 240.
• The Batrachia of North America / by E.D. Cope. Ashton, Maryland: Eric Lundberg, 1963. url p. 297, p. 298, p. 509.
• The Canadian field-naturalist. Ottawa, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club. url p. 60.
• The Great Basin naturalist. 1 1939 Provo, Utah: M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, 1939-1999. url p. 148.
• The Journal of animal behavior. Albany, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Co., [1911-1917?] url p. 201.
• The Riverside natural history. Ed. by John Sterling Kingsley. Articles by C.C. Abbott, J.A. Allen, W.B. Barrows [etc.]. .. Illustrated by more than twenty-two hundred woodcuts in the text, one hundred and sixty-eight full-page engr Boston, Houghton, Mifflin and Company[c1888] url p. 333.
• The amphibians of Missouri / by Tom R. Johnson. Lawrence: University of Kansas, 1977. url p. 125, p. 130.
• The anatomical record. [New York, etc.]A. R. Liss [etc.] url p. 110.
• The changing Illinois environment: critical trends: technical report of the Critical Trends Assessment Project. Springfield, Ill.: Ill. Dept. of Energy and Natural Resources, 1994. url p. 151.
• The chordates. Philadelphia: Blakiston, 1950. url p. 457.
• The clerk of the woods, Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1903. url p. 263, p. 263.
• The ecological impact of man on the south Florida herpetofauna / by Larry David Wilson and Louis Porras. Lawrence: University of Kansas: 1983. url p. 28, p. 88.
• The ecology and life history of the common frog (Rana temporaria temporaria). New York, Hafner Pub. Co., 1962 [c1961] url p. 220, p. 84.
• The frog book: North American toads and frogs, with a study of the habits and life histories of those of the northeastern States / With over three hundred photographs from life by the author. New YorkDoubleday, Page1907 url , , p. 252, p. 4, p. 43, p. 53, p. 60.
• The frog book; North American toads and frogs, with a study of the habits and life histories of those of the northeastern states. New York, Doubleday, Page & company, 1906. url , p. 252, p. 4, p. 43.
• The primary factors of organic evolution / by E. D. Cope. Chicago: Open Court, 1904, c1896. url p. 545, p. 68.
• The story of the amphibians and the reptiles / by James Newton Baskett. .. and Raymond L. Ditmars. New York: D. Appleton and company, 1902. url p. 9.
• Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis. [St. Louis: Academy of Science of St. Louis], 1860-1958. url p. 111, p. 14, p. 14, p. 253.
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Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.
• Geoffrey Hammerson 2004. Scaphiopus holbrookii. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 04February2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed February 29, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 9 providers.
• Hammerson, G. 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 29, 2008:

• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Amphibian and Reptile Collection - Anura
• Carnegie Museums: Amphibians and Reptiles
• Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates: Amphibians and Reptiles Collection
• GBIF-Sweden: Herpetology (NRM)
• Marine Science Institute, UCSB: Paleobiology Database
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• Sternberg Museum of Natural History: Herp Collection
• Yale University Peabody Museum: Peabody Herp Collection DiGIR provider Service

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 26123
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-173426
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 173426
• IUCN ID: 240866
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: AAABF01040
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 943

Footnotes

1. Standard Deviation = 64.830 based on 40 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
2. Geoffrey Hammerson 2004. Scaphiopus holbrookii. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 04 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.