Description

A medium sized toad with relatively short limbs, it is stocky and blunt-nosed. It has oval parotoid glands, and its cranial crests are weak or not present. The warts are small and dark. The skin varies from light tan to light olive with darker blotching. Underside a uniform, lighter color than dorsal surface. All Arroyo Toads possess a distinctive light colored "V"-shaped stripe spanning the eyes (Fisher and Case 1997; Stebbins 1985).

Anaxyrus californicus has been classified as a distinct species, separate from A. microscaphus due to both morphological (Myers 1930) and genetic differences (Gergus 1998).

Rescuing an endangered Arroyo Toad from a bullfrog which had eaten it, by cutting it out of the stomach of the euthanized bullfrog (warning: blood).

Runtime: 2:08. Language: English.
Video submitted by: Robert Fisher.

Hear calls at the Western Sound Archive.

See another account at californiaherps.com.