western spadefoot toads
Spea
Summary 7
Spea is a genus of North American amphibian commonly referred to as the western spadefoot toads. They differ greatly from true toads (those of the family Bufonidae) by having eyes with vertical pupils, no parotoid glands, and relatively smooth skin. Their most distinctive feature is a spade-like projection on their hind feet, from which their common name is derived. This projection enables spadefoot toads to dig in loose soils with ease.
Spea 8
Spea is a genus of North Americanamphibian commonly referred to as the western spadefoot toads. They differ greatly from true toads (those of the family Bufonidae) by having eyes with vertical pupils, no parotoid glands, and relatively smooth skin. Their most distinctive feature is a spade-like projection on their hind feet, from which their common name is derived. This projection enables spadefoot toads to dig in loose soils with ease. Its name is from the Ancient Greek speos (σπέος, ‘cave, cavern’)[1]
Species[edit]
Spea species were once classified with their European cousins in the familyPelobatidae, but have since been reclassified to their own family, Scaphiopodidae with other North American species. There are four species in the genus Spea:- Plains spadefoot toad, Spea bombifrons (Cope, 1863)
- Western spadefoot toad, Spea hammondii (Baird, 1859)
- Great Basin spadefoot toad, Spea intermontana (Cope, 1863)
- New Mexico spadefoot toad, Spea multiplicata (Cope, 1863)
Related species[edit]
GenusScaphiopus, southern spadefoot toads- Couch's spadefoot toad, Scaphiopus couchii (Baird, 1854)
- Eastern spadefoot (toad), Scaphiopus holbrookii (Harlan, 1835)
- Hurter's spadefoot toad, Scaphiopus hurterii (Strecker, 1910)
References[edit]
- ^Dodd, C. Kenneth (2013). Frogs of the United States and Canada1. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4214-0633-6.
- "Spea". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
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Sources and Credits
- (c) randomtruth, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/58096907@N00/4512731667
- (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8201/8236572067_dbed9b0a15_o.jpg
- (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8236572197_9305c84d50_o.jpg
- (c) Tony Iwane, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8342/8238713334_d8130ca06c_o.jpg
- (c) Ken-ichi Ueda, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8236571925_3123a9274b_o.jpg
- (c) Welch, Jenna L., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=herps&irn=10294517
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spea
- (c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31562422
