Range in California: Red
Dot-locality range map
Listen to this toad:
One short call
More sounds of
Bufo cognatus
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Adult, Riverside County |
Adult, Riverside County |
Adult, Riverside County |
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| Calling adult male, Riverside County |
Calling adult male, Riverside County |
Male and female in amplexus, Riverside County |
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Adult, Riverside County |
Cranial crests |
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Habitat |
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Breeding habitat, edge of irrigated field, Riverside County |
Breeding habitat, edge of irrigated field, Riverside County |
Habitat, agricultural irrigation pond, Riverside County |
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Irrigation canal habitat,
Imperial County
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Short Video |
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Watch a short video of two toads calling.
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Description |
| Size |
| Adults are 1 4/5 - 4 1/5 inches from snout to vent ( 4.6 - 11.4 cm). |
| Appearance |
A large and robust toad with dry, warty skin. Cranial crests form a boss on snout and separate widely toward the rear of the head. A sharp tubercle on each hind foot. Light brown, gray, or olive above with large, symmetrical olive, or green blotches with light borders. May have a thin stripe along the middle of the back. Pale whitish below usually with no spots. Young have many small red tubercles and a v-shaped crest.
Parotoid glands are elongated. Pupils are horizontal. |
| Voice (Listen) |
| Calls at night, usually during or after rains. (I have witnessed them calling from pools in irrigated orchards in Riverside County when there had been no rain for many days.) |
| Behavior |
| Nocturnally active, sometimes seen during daytime on cloudy, rainy days. Remains underground in the daytime where it easliy burrows into loose soil. Parotoid glands and warts can secrete a poison to deter some predators. Others are immune, and will consume toads. |
| Diet |
| Diet consists of a wide variety of invertebrates. Voraciously preys on cutworms, which can cause severe crop damage. Typical of most frogs, the prey is located by vision, then a large sticky tongue is used to catch the prey and bring it into the mouth to eat. |
| Reproduction |
| Mating and egg-laying occurs after heavy rains in spring and summer, generally April to September, in temporary pools, slow streams, irrigation ditches and holding ponds and flooded fields. Fertilization is external. Eggs are laid in strings and attached to debris on bottom of water. |
| Range |
| Ranges from thesoutheast corner of California, from the Imperial Valley to the Colorado River region, east through the great plains into Western Wisconsin and northwest Texas, north into southeast Alberta, Canada, south into Mexico. |
| Habitat |
Lives in creosote bush and mesquite deserts, prairie grasslands, sagebrush plains, agricultural regions.
From below sea level to 8,000 ft. (2,440 m.) |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| This toad has been renamed Anaxyrus cognatus, but this nomenclature is not yet standard. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Bufonidae |
True Toads |
| Genus |
Bufo |
True Toads |
| Species |
cognatus |
Great Plains Toad
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Original Description |
Bufo cognatus Say, 1823 - in James, Long's Exp. Rocky Mts., Vol. 2, p. 190
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Bufo - toad
cognatus - Latin - related by birth
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Anaxyrus cognatus
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Related or Similar California Frogs |
Bufo boreas halophilus
Bufo woodhousii
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More Information and References |
Natureserve Explorer
California Dept. of Fish and Game
AmphibiaWeb
Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.
Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Amphibians of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.
Elliott, Lang, Carl Gerhardt, and Carlos Davidson. Frogs and Toads of North America, a Comprehensive Guide to their Identification, Behavior, and Calls. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.
Lannoo, Michael (Editor). Amphibian Declines: The Conservation Status of United States Species. University of California Press, June 2005.
Wright, Anna. Handbook of Frogs and Toads of the United States and Canada. Cornell University Press, 1949.
Davidson, Carlos. Booklet to the CD Frog and Toad Calls of the Pacific Coast - Vanishing Voices. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, 1995.
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The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game.
This toad is not on the Special Animals List. There are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
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Organization
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Status Listing
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| U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) |
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| California Endangered Species Act (CESA) |
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| California Department of Fish and Game |
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| Bureau of Land Management |
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| USDA Forest Service |
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| Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks |
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World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List
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