Range in California: Red
Dot-locality range map
Listen to this spadefoot:
A short example
More sounds of
Spea intermontana
Watch a short video
of this spadefoot digging into
sandy soil and burying itself.
© Julie Nelson
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Adult, Inyo County |
Adult, Inyo County |
Adult, Mineral County, Nevada |
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Adult, Franklin county, Washington |
Adult, Franklin county, Washington |
Adult, Franklin county, Washington |
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Spade on hind foot |
Underside |
Adult, Franklin county, Washington |
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| Recently-transformed juvenile |
Two mature eggs attached to a stick which was found submerged in shallow water. |
Mature tadpole |
Go to Page 2 to see more pictures of developing Great Basin Spadefoot tadpoles.
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A Short Movie
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Habitat, dry wash, Deep Springs Valley, Inyo County (early June 2003)
One night in early July of 1999, this dry desert wash was full of water from recent rains and Great Basin Spadefoots were calling from the water and moving about on the valley floor.
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Habitat, Inyo County |
As they sat around their campsite in the Nevada desert, a group of herpetology students suddenly saw this spadefoot dig itself out of the sand. Maybe the vibrations on the ground from the people moving about felt like a sudden heavy rain and stimulated it to emerge. This short movie shows the spadefoot digging back into the sandy soil and burying itself. © Julie Nelson |
More pictures of this Spadefoot and its natural habitat are available on our Northwest Herps page.
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Description |
| Size |
| Adults are 1.5 - 2.5 inches long from snout to vent (3.8 - 6.3 cm). |
| Appearance |
A stout-bodied toad with short legs. Gray-green to olive above, with light stripes on the sides on the back,
and browinish or reddish spots at the tips of skin tubercles. Whitish below. Eyes are gold with vertical pupils. There is a glandular bump between the eyes and a dark spot on each eyelid. Glossy black spade on each hind foot is shaped like a wedge. No parotoid glands.Tadpoles are dark brown - black above, golden below, with the eyes set in from the margin of the head, and grow up to 2.75 inches long (7 cm.) |
| Voice (Listen) |
| The call is a short 1-3 note duck-like snoring sound. Compared to the sound of a flock of ducks slowed down. Calls at night. |
| Behavior |
| Almost completely terrestrial, entering water only to breed. Spends 7 - 8 months of its life buried underground during the winter cold and and summer dry periods. Spades on hind feet assist in digging soil. Active on the surface at night after rains or during periods of agricultural irrigation. |
| Diet |
| Diet consists of a wide variety of invertebrates. 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 |
Breeds spring through summer in permanent and temporary pools, lakeshores, ponds, stock tanks, and irrigation ditches. Fertilization is external.
Eggs are laid in small grape to plum-sized clusters and attatched to floating sticks and underwater vegetation. Eggs hatch after 2 - 3 days, and tadpoles transform in a few weeks. This accellerated development of eggs and larvae due to the temporary nature of its breeding pools and activity period is typical of spadefoots. |
| Range |
| Ranges in California in the Great Basin region east of the Sierras from the northern Owens Valley, north through the northeast corner of the state, then north, east of the Cascades mountains, through Oregon and Washington, into southern British Columbia, and southeast through southern Idaho and Wyoming, Utah, northeast Colorado, most of Nevada, and northwest Arizona. |
| Habitat |
Inhabits arid regions of sagebrush flats, bunch grass prairie, arid shrublands, and open forests with sandy soil.
Up to 9,200 ft. (2800 m). |
| Taxonomic Notes |
| Before being assigned to the genus Spea, this spadefoot was known as Scaphiopus intermontana. |
| Conservation Issues (Conservation Status) |
| None |
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Taxonomy |
| Family |
Pelobatidae |
Spadefoot Toads and Relatives |
| Genus |
Spea |
Western Spadefoots |
| Species |
intermontana |
Great Basin Spadefoot
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Original Description |
(Cope, 1883) - Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Vol. 35, p. 15
from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
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Meaning of the Scientific Name |
Spea - speos - Greek for cave, cavern
intermontana - Latin - inter between, montis mountain, and -anus belonging to - refers to the Great Basin locality
from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
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Alternate Names |
Scaphiopus intermontana - Great Basin Spadefoot
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Related or Similar California Frogs |
Scaphiopus couchii
Spea hammondii
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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.
Degenhardt, William G., Charles W. Painter, & Andrew H. Price. Amphibians and Reptiles of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
Williamson, Michael A., Paul W. Hyder, & John S. Applegarth. Snakes, Lizards, Turtles, Frogs, Toads & Salamanders of New Mexico. Sunstone Press, 1994.
Corkran, Charlotte & Chris Thoms. Amphibians of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Lone Pine Publishing, 1996.
Jones, Lawrence L. C. , William P. Leonard, Deanna H. Olson, editors. Amphibians of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle Audubon Society, 2005.
Leonard et. al. Amphibians of Washington and Oregon. Seattle Audubon Society, 1993.
Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie Jr., and R. M. Storm. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. Moscow, Idaho: University Press of Idaho, 1983.
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 Spadefoot is not included on the Special Animals List, meaning there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California according to the California Department of Fish and Game.
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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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