True toad

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True toads
Temporal range: Late Paleocene – Recent [1] 57–0  Ma
Bufo bufo.jpg
Common toad or European toad, Bufo bufo
Territorial call of an Atelopus franciscus male
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Superfamily: Hyloidea
Family: Bufonidae
Gray, 1825
Genera
Over 35 see text
Bufonidae distrib.PNG
Native distribution of Bufonidae (in black)
Song of Common toad or European toad, Bufo bufo.
Common toad, female and male on her back. Vanlig padda - Bufo bufo.jpg
Common toad, female and male on her back.

A true toad is any member of the family Bufonidae, in the order Anura (frogs and toads). This is the only family of anurans in which all members are known as toads, although some may be called frogs (such as harlequin frogs). The bufonids now comprise more than 35 genera, Bufo being the best known.

Contents

History

American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) Bufo americanus Side.JPG
American toad (Anaxyrus americanus)

Bufonidae is thought to have originated in South America. Some studies date the origin of the group to after the breakup of Gondwana, about 78–98 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous. [2] In contrast, other studies have dated the origin of the group to the early Paleocene. [3] The bufonids likely radiated out of South America during the Eocene, with the entire radiation occurring during the Eocene to Oligocene, marking an extremely rapid divergence likely facilitated by the Paleogene's changing climatic conditions. [3]

Taxonomy

The following phylogeny of most genera in the family is based on Portik and Papenfuss, 2015:, [4] Chan et al., 2016, [5] Chandramouli et al., 2016, [6] and Kok et al., 2017 [3]

Melanophryniscus

Atelopus

Oreophrynella

Osornophryne

Frostius

Amazophrynella

Dendrophryniscus

Nannophryne

Peltophryne

Rhaebo

Rhinella

Anaxyrus

Incilius

Didynamipus

Poyntonophrynus

Sclerophrys

Nimbaphrynoides

Vandijkophrynus

undescribed lineage

Capensibufo

Mertensophryne

Wolterstorffina

Werneria

Nectophryne

Barbarophryne

Schismaderma

Churamiti

Nectophrynoides

Pedostibes

Adenomus

Blythophryne

Xanthophryne

Bufoides

Duttaphrynus (paraphyletic)

Bufotes

Epidalea

Strauchbufo

Bufo

Leptophryne

Ghatophryne

Sabahphrynus

Ansonia

Pelophryne

Ingerophrynus

Phrynoidis

Rentapia

Ingerophrynus alongside Leptophryne was grouped as basal to the clade containing all other Southeast Asian toad genera and Ghatophryne by Portik and Papenfuss, but was found to group with Phrynoidis and Rentapia by Chan et al.Ghatophryne was grouped with Phrynoidis and Rentapia by Portik and Papenfuss but was found to group with Pelophryne and Ansonia by Chan et al. In addition, Sabahphrynus was grouped with Strauchbufo and Bufo by Portik and Papenfuss but was found to group with Pelophryne, Ansonia, and Ghatophryne by Chan et al.

Characteristics

True toads are widespread and are native to every continent except Australia and Antarctica, inhabiting a variety of environments, from arid areas to rainforest. Most lay eggs in paired strings that hatch into tadpoles, although, in the genus Nectophrynoides , the eggs hatch directly into miniature toads. [1]

All true toads are toothless and generally warty in appearance. They have a pair of parotoid glands on the back of their heads. These glands contain an alkaloid poison which the toads excrete when stressed. The poison in the glands contains a number of toxins causing different effects. Bufotoxin is a general term. Different animals contain significantly different substances and proportions of substances. Some, like the cane toad Rhinella marina, are more toxic than others. Some "psychoactive toads", such as the Colorado River toad Incilius alvarius, [7] have been used recreationally for the effects of their bufotoxin.

Depending on the species, male or female toads may possess a Bidder's organ, a trait unique to all bufonids except genera Melanophryniscus and Truebella. [8] Under the right conditions, the organ becomes an active ovary. [9]

The loss of teeth has arisen in frogs independently over 20 times. Notably, all members of Bufonidae are toothless. Another Anuran family with a comparable degree of edentulism is the family Microhylidae. [10]

Reproduction

Internal fertilization occurs in four bufonid genera. [11]

Ascaphus (all species) and Eleutherodactylus (two species, E. coqui and E. jasperi ) are the only other frog genera that have internal fertilization. [11] Limnonectes larvaepartus also has internal fertilization. [12]

Taxonomy and genera

The family Bufonidae contains over 570 species among 52 genera.

Genus name and authorCommon nameSpecies
Adenomus Cope, 1861Dwarf toads
2
Altiphrynoides Dubois, 1987Ethiopian toads
2
Amazophrynella Fouquet et al., 2012
12
Anaxyrus Tschudi, 1845
23
Ansonia Stoliczka, 1870Stream toads
34
Atelopus Duméril & Bibron, 1841Stubfoot toads
96
Barbarophryne Beukema, de Pous, Donaire-Barroso, Bogaerts, Garcia-Porta, Escoriza, Arribas, El Mouden, and Carranza, 2013 (1 sp.)Tiznit toad; Brongersma's toad
1
Blythophryne Chandramouli et al., 2016 [13] Andaman bush toads
1
Bufo Garsault, 1764Toads
18
Bufoides Pillai & Yazdani, 1973Mawblang toads; Rock toads
2
Bufotes Rafinesque, 1815Palearctic green toads
15
Capensibufo Grandison, 1980Cape toads
5
Churamiti Channing & Stanley, 2002
1
Dendrophryniscus Jiménez de la Espada, 1871Tree toads
16
Didynamipus Andersson, 1903Four-digit toad
1
Duttaphrynus Frost et al., 2006Dutta's toads
23
Epidalea Cope, 1864Natterjack toad
1
Firouzophrynus Safaei-Mahroo and Ghaffari, 2020Firouz's toads
5
Frostius Cannatella, 1986Frost's toads
2
Ghatophryne Biju, Van Bocxlaer, Giri, Loader, and Bossuyt, 2009
2
Incilius Cope, 1863Central American toads; Middle American toads; Cerro Utyum toads
39
Ingerophrynus Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006Hainan toads
12
Laurentophryne Tihen, 1960Parker's tree toad
1
Leptophryne Fitzinger, 1843Indonesia tree toads
3
Melanophryniscus Gallardo, 1961South American redbelly toads
29
Mertensophryne Tihen, 1960Snouted frogs
14
Metaphryniscus Señaris, Ayarzagüena & Gorzula, 1994
1
Nannophryne Günther, 1870
4
Nectophryne Buchholz & Peters, 1875African tree toads
2
Nectophrynoides Buchholz & Peters, 1875African live-bearing toads
13
Nimbaphrynoides Dubois, 1987Nimba toads
1
Oreophrynella Boulenger, 1895Bush toads
8
Osornophryne Ruiz-Carranza & Hernández-Camacho, 1976Plump toads
11
Parapelophryne Fei, Ye & Jiang, 2003
1
Pedostibes Günther, 1876Asian tree toads
1
Pelophryne Barbour, 1938Flathead toads
13
Peltophryne Fitzinger, 1843Caribbean toads
14
Phrynoidis Fitzinger in Treitschke, 1842Rough toads
2
Poyntonophrynus Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006Pygmy toads
11
Pseudobufo Tschudi, 1838False toad
1
Rentapia Chan, Grismer, Zachariah, Brown, and Abraham, 2016
2
Rhaebo Cope, 1862Cope toads
13
Rhinella Fitzinger, 1826Beaked toads
94
Sabahphrynus Matsui, Yambun, and Sudin, 2007Sabah earless toad
1
Schismaderma Smith, 1849African split-skin toad
1
Sclerophrys Tschudi, 1838
44
Sigalegalephrynus Smart, Sarker, Arifin, Harvey, Sidik, Hamidy, Kurniawan, and Smith, 2017Puppet toads
5
Strauchbufo Fei, Ye, and Jiang, 2012Siberian toad; Mongolian toad
1
Truebella Graybeal & Cannatella, 1995
2
Vandijkophrynus Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006Van Dijk's toads
6
Werneria Poche, 1903Smalltongue toads
6
Wolterstorffina Mertens, 1939Wolterstorff toads
3
Xanthophryne Biju, Van Bocxlaer, Giri, Loader & Bossuyt, 2009
2

Related Research Articles

<i>Bufo</i> Genus of amphibians

Bufo is a genus of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. As traditionally defined, it was a wastebasket genus containing a large number of toads from much of the world, but following taxonomic reviews most of these have been moved to other genera, leaving only seventeen extant (living) species from Europe, northern Africa and Asia in this genus, including the well-known common toad. Some of the genera that contain species formerly placed in Bufo are Anaxyrus, Bufotes, Duttaphrynus, Epidalea and Rhinella.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common toad</span> Species of amphibian

The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad, is a frog found throughout most of Europe, in the western part of North Asia, and in a small portion of Northwest Africa. It is one of a group of closely related animals that are descended from a common ancestral line of toads and which form a species complex. The toad is an inconspicuous animal as it usually lies hidden during the day. It becomes active at dusk and spends the night hunting for the invertebrates on which it feeds. It moves with a slow, ungainly walk or short jumps, and has greyish-brown skin covered with wart-like lumps.

<i>Nectophrynoides</i> Genus of amphibians

Nectophrynoides is a genus of true toads, family Bufonidae. They are endemic to Eastern Arc forests and wetlands in Tanzania, and all except N. tornieri are threatened. Species of the genus are ovoviviparous: fertilization is internal, and the females give birth to fully developed, small toadlets. Together with the West Africa Nimbaphrynoides and Limnonectes larvaepartus, they are the only frogs/toads in the world that do not lay eggs. The Ethiopian Altiphrynoides, which lay eggs, were also part of Nectophrynoides in the past.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodhouse's toad</span> Species of amphibian

Woodhouse's toad is a medium-sized true toad native to the United States and Mexico. There are three recognized subspecies. A. woodhousii tends to hybridize with Anaxyrus americanus where their ranges overlap.

<i>Anaxyrus fowleri</i> Species of amphibian

Fowler's toad is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. The species is native to North America, where it occurs in much of the eastern United States and parts of adjacent Canada. It was previously considered a subspecies of Woodhouse's toad.

Bufoides is a small genus of true toads, family Bufonidae. The genus is endemic to Northeast India, with one species known from the Garo and Khasi Hills.

Bufoides kempi is a species of true toad, family Bufonidae. This poorly known species is endemic to Meghalaya, Northeast India. It is only known with certainty from its type series collected "above Tura" at 2,500 ft (760 m) in the Garo Hills no later than 1919; there is also a possible record collected at around 2009. Its common names are Kemp's Asian tree toad, Garo Hills toad, and Garo Hills tree toad. The specific name kempi honours Stanley Wells Kemp, an English zoologist and anthropologist.

Bufotes pseudoraddei is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is found in the West Himalayan region, including northern Pakistan and the border area between western Xizang of China and adjacent northwestern India. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, plantations, and rural gardens.

Parker's tree toad is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is the single species in the genus Laurentophryne, and is endemic to Kivu region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It is threatened by habitat loss. To describe their features, they have a straight head and pointed snout that goes further than its mouth. They have dorsal skin granular with multiple warts around their body more or less arranged in rows starting from the snout and moves to the shoulders and beyond; warts depicting a clear X on their backs typically colored grey or grey-whiteish.

<i>Rentapia everetti</i> Species of amphibian

Rentapia everetti, also known as Everett's Asian tree toad or marbled tree toad, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Borneo and occurs in both Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.

<i>Rhinella</i> Genus of amphibians

Rhinella, commonly known as South American toads, beaked toads or Rio Viejo toads, is a genus of true toads native to Neotropical parts of Mexico, Central and South America. Additionally, the cane toad has been introduced to Australia, the Caribbean, the Philippines and elsewhere.

<i>Nimbaphrynoides</i> Genus of amphibians

Nimbaphrynoides is a monotypic genus of true toads from highlands in the Mount Nimba region of the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. The sole species is Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis. Along with Nectophrynoides, Eleutherodactylus jasperi, and Limnonectes larvaepartus, Nimbaphrynoides is one of the only anurans that combine internal fertilization with ovoviviparity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert F. Inger</span> American herpetologist (1920–2019)

Robert Frederick Inger was an American herpetologist. During his lifetime, he wrote numerous books and publications about herpetology. He was also the curator for amphibians and reptiles at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois.

<i>Peltophryne</i> Genus of amphibians

Peltophryne is a genus of true toads in the family Bufonidae, from the Greater Antilles. With ten endemic species, Cuba hosts the highest diversity. Hispaniola has three endemics and Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands combined have one.

<i>Phrynoidis</i> Genus of amphibians

Phrynoidis is a small genus of true toads, family Bufonidae. They are found in Mainland Southeast Asia and the Greater Sundas. They are sometimes known as the rough toads or river toads.

<i>Blythophryne beryet</i> Species of amphibian

Blythophryne is currently a monotypic genus of true toads. The sole species Blythophryne beryet is described from the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, India. It is about 24 millimetres (0.94 in) long.

<i>Rentapia</i> Genus of amphibians

Rentapia is a genus of true toads, family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Southeast Asia and occurs in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Sumatra. It was erected in 2016 resolve the polyphyly of Pedostibes.

<i>Bufotes</i> Genus of amphibians

Bufotes, the Eurasian green toads or Palearctic green toads, is a genus of true toads. They are native to Europe, western and central Asia and northern Africa; a region roughly equalling the western and central Palearctic. Historically they were included in the genus Bufo and then for a few years placed in Pseudepidalea, which is a synonym of the currently accepted name Bufotes.

References

  1. 1 2 Zweifel, Richard G. (1998). Cogger, H.G.; Zweifel, R.G. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 91–92. ISBN   978-0-12-178560-4.
  2. ↑ Pramuk, Jennifer B.; Robertson, Tasia; Sites, Jack W.; Noonan, Brice P. (2008). "Around the world in 10 million years: biogeography of the nearly cosmopolitan true toads (Anura: Bufonidae)". Global Ecology and Biogeography. 17 (1): 72–83. doi:10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00348.x. ISSN   1466-8238.
  3. 1 2 3 Kok, Philippe J. R.; Ratz, Sebastian; MacCulloch, Ross D.; Lathrop, Amy; Dezfoulian, Raheleh; Aubret, Fabien; Means, D. Bruce (2018). "Historical biogeography of the palaeoendemic toad genus Oreophrynella (Amphibia: Bufonidae) sheds a new light on the origin of the Pantepui endemic terrestrial biota". Journal of Biogeography. 45 (1): 26–36. doi:10.1111/jbi.13093. ISSN   1365-2699. S2CID   90886846.
  4. ↑ Portik, Daniel M.; Papenfuss, Theodore J. (2015-08-06). "Historical biogeography resolves the origins of endemic Arabian toad lineages (Anura: Bufonidae): Evidence for ancient vicariance and dispersal events with the Horn of Africa and South Asia". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 15 (1): 152. doi:10.1186/s12862-015-0417-y. ISSN   1471-2148. PMC   4527211 . PMID   26245197.
  5. ↑ Chan, Kin Onn; Grismer, L. Lee; Zachariah, Anil; Brown, Rafe M.; Abraham, Robin Kurian (2016-01-20). "Polyphyly of Asian Tree Toads, Genus Pedostibes Günther, 1876 (Anura: Bufonidae), and the Description of a New Genus from Southeast Asia". PLOS ONE. 11 (1): e0145903. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1145903C. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145903 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   4720419 . PMID   26788854.
  6. ↑ Chandramouli, S. R.; Vasudevan, Karthikeyan; Harikrishnan, S.; Dutta, Sushil Kumar; Janani, S. Jegath; Sharma, Richa; Das, Indraneil; Aggarwal, Ramesh (2016-01-20). "A new genus and species of arboreal toad with phytotelmonous larvae, from the Andaman Islands, India (Lissamphibia, Anura, Bufonidae)". ZooKeys (555): 57–90. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.555.6522 . ISSN   1313-2970. PMC   4740822 . PMID   26877687.
  7. ↑ "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  8. ↑ Piprek, Rafal P., et al. “Bidder's Organ – Structure, Development and Function.” The International Journal of Developmental Biology, vol. 58, no. 10-11–12, 2014, pp. 819–27. Crossref, doi:10.1387/ijdb.140147rp.
  9. ↑ Brown, Federico D.; Del Pino, Eugenia M.; Krohne, Georg (December 2002). "Bidder's organ in the toad Bufo marinus: Effects of orchidectomy on the morphology and expression of lamina-associated polypeptide 2". Development, Growth & Differentiation. 44 (6): 527–535. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-169X.2002.00665.x . ISSN   1440-169X. PMID   12492511. S2CID   44753338.
  10. ↑ Paluh, Daniel J., et al. “Rampant Tooth Loss Across 200 Million Years of Frog Evolution.” BioRxiv, 2021. Crossref, doi:10.1101/2021.02.04.429809.
  11. 1 2 Vitt, Laurie J.; Caldwell, Janalee P. (2014). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles (4th ed.). Academic Press. p. 122.
  12. ↑ Iskandar, D. T.; Evans, B. J.; McGuire, J. A. (2014). "A novel reproductive mode in frogs: a new species of fanged frog with internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles". PLOS ONE. 9 (12): e115884. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9k5884I. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115884 . PMC   4281041 . PMID   25551466.
  13. ↑ S. R. Chandramouli, Karthikeyan, Vasudevan, S Harikrishnan, Sushil Kumar Dutta, S Jegath Janani, Richa Sharma, Indraneil Das, Ramesh Aggarwal. “A new genus and species of arboreal toad with phytotelmonous larvae, from the Andaman Islands, India (Lissamphibia, Anura, Bufonidae)” ZooKeys (2016) 555: 57-90, https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.555.6522
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