The Couch's Spadefoot Toad, (Scaphiopus couchii) is a species of North American spadefoot toad (family Scaphiopodidae) native to the southwestern United States and the Baja region of Mexico. The Frogs and Toads of North America: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification,Behavior, and Calls Males also tend to be smaller than females. The Couch’s Spadefoot Toad. The Couch’s spadefoot toad has got its name from their padded hind feet. Females have dark reticulations, whereas males are lighter overall with faint dark spots, reduced reticulations, or they may lack dark markings altogether.
Spadefoot Toad. Sounds of Couch's Spadefoot - Scaphiopus couchii Baird, 1854 Click on a picture for a larger view: Click the speaker icon to listen to an mp3 sound file. COUCH'S SPADEFOOT Scaphiopus couchii : DESCRIPTION: Up to 3.5 inches in length, Couch’s spadefoot is a green or yellowish-green toad. Male calling in breeding pool at night.
Texas Page . Couch's Spadefoot Toads have warty, greenish to … Couch's Spadefoot Toads (Scaphiopus couchii) spend most of the year, ... Their loud baaaaaah baaaaaah calls sound very much like the bleating of a baby lamb, and while these toads look nothing like a lamb, spadefoot toads do have the rounded, big-eyed look of a baby animal. In spite of the hard soil, the toad digs into the soil with its hard, sickle-shaped tubercles (or spades) located on the undersides of their back feet. As one of the most elusive and secretive of all the most common amphibians, the spadefoot toad lives most of its life underground in a state of total seclusion. One of the call differences I have needed to learn to distinguish is the "dyspeptic groans" of the two species of Spadefoot Toads (genus Scaphiopus) that occur in my area. Scientific Classification ; Quick Information; Kingdom: Animalia: Phylum: Chordata: Class: Amphibia: Order: Anura: Family: Scaphiopodidae: Genus: Scaphiopus: Scientific Name: Scaphiopus couchii: Size : 3.5 in (8.8 cm) …
The belly is white and without markings. At the base of each hind foot is a dark, sickle-shaped keratinous “spade,” hence the name spadefoot. Couch’s spadefoot is a 3 inch (8 cm), smooth-skinned, greenish, yellowish, or olive spadefoot with irregular blotches or spots of black, brown, or dark green. The specific epithet couchii is in honor of American naturalist Darius Nash Couch, who collected the first specimen while on a personal expedition to northern Mexico to collect plant, mineral, and animal specimens for the Smithsonian Institution.
With its sharp spade-like limb, the aptly named spadefoot toad burrows deep underground for safety and protection. The first part of their name has been given after Darius Nash Couch, an American naturalist.
Male frogs and toads sometimes make a variety of sounds. I later learned that this area was the home of Couch’s spadefoot toad.
The width of the eyelids is approximately the same as the distance between the eyes. They dig their burrows by backing into them as they dig with their back feet. Their large eyes have vertical slit pupils like those of a cat.
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Male and female in amplexus on a road above flooded wash breeding habitat. The Couch’s Spadefoot Toad, (Scaphiopus couchii) is a species of North American spadefoot toad native to the southwestern United States and the Baja region of Mexico.
Couch's spadefoot toad or Couch's spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii) is a species of North American spadefoot toad (family Scaphiopodidae).