In order to protect this species its natural habitat must be protected. In many states in the Great Plains region there are laws in place that protect the plains. To ensure the continued survival of this species this protection of habitat must continue.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis
The Great Plains toad is an effective enemy of over-wintering cutworms in Oklahoma. Their value to agriculture on a yearly basis in Oklahoma has been estimated at $25 per individual toad.
The Great Plains toad is an insectivore with a diet that includes, moths, flies, cutworms and beetles. Of its prey, cutworms pose the biggest problem to humans. This toad is known to be important to agriculture because they eat cutworms and many other noxious insects that feed on and damage crops. The Great Plains toad is nocturnal, thus feeds at night, which makes it hard to observe their food habits.
The range of Great Plains toads stretches from extreme southwest Manitoba, Canada, to southeast Alberta, Canada, and south to Texas; eastern-central Utah to extreme southeast California and far south into Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. There is a disjunct colony of Great Plains toads in south-central Colorado.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Great Plains toads are common toads of the great open spaces of broad grasslands, and the arid southwest. They are usually found in the lower, damper sections of these areas. These toads frequent irrigation canals, flood plains of rivers, temporary rain pools, and reservoirs.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; savanna or grassland
Aquatic Biomes: rivers and streams; temporary pools
Other Habitat Features: agricultural ; riparian
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 10.7 years.
The adult Great Plains toad averages 4.8-9 cm in length. On its back it has large dark blotches. Each blotch is boldly bordered by light pigment and contains many warts. The colors of this toad are generally yellowish, brown, greenish, or gray on top. Below is unspotted, cream to white, with a yellow or orange-yellow seat patch. Some specimens have been found with a narrow, light mid dorsal stripe. The head of the Great Plains toad is relatively small with a well-developed cranial crest. Their snout is blunt and rounded.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; bilateral symmetry
The Great Plains toad breeds only after rain storms in spring and summer when the temperature exceeds 12 degrees C. Breeding sites are restricted to relatively clear shallow water, which include buffalo wallows, flooded fields, and the edges of extensive temporary pools. They breed usually in large congresses built up by the reaction of males to one another's call. A calling male clutches any toad that happens to touch him, and once a female is clasped she is retained tenaciously. A single female may lay as many as 20,000 eggs, which are attached to debris near the bottom of temporary pools, permanent springs, and small streams. Roughly two days after laying the eggs hatch. The tadpoles are small when first hatched and grow only to about 25 mm in length. About 1 1/2 months after the eggs are laid, metamorphosis begins and takes less than two weeks to complete. The newly transformed young of the year will not become sexually mature until they are 3-5 years old.
Range number of offspring: 20000 (high) .
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (External ); oviparous
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 1460 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 1460 days.
The Great Plains toad (Anaxyrus cognatus) is a relatively large species of true toad native to central North America.
The amphibian is native throughout the Canadian Prairies (northern Great Plains) in southern Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan; and into northern Mexico in the Sonoran Desert and Mexican Plateau.[1][2][3]
The Great Plains toad is grey, brown, and green in color, with darker colored blotching. It can grow to anywhere between 5.1 and 11.4 cm (2 and 4.5 in) in length. Its primary diet is various species of cutworms. It prefers grassland habitat with loose soil that is easy to burrow in. Breeding occurs throughout the spring and summer months, most often immediately after heavy rainfall. In dry areas it may only emerge from its burrow for a few weeks when conditions are right, and usually at night, but in areas with permanent water bodies and abundant rain it may be active all day.[4] Its mating call is a very loud, harsh chirping noise repeated many times, very fast.
The great plains toad feeds a range of insects such as lepidopterans, dipterans, hymenopterans, coleopterans, ants, and termites. The toad is preyed upon by the plains garter snake (Thamnophis radix), among others.[3] It uses chemoreceptors to sense chemical cues left by the snake.
The great plains toad occur in deserts, grasslands, semi-desert shrublands, open floodplains, and agricultural areas. When inactive they burrow underground. Breeding takes place in temporary water bodies such as rain pools, flooded areas, and ponds; they can also use margins of reservoirs. The eggs and larvae develop in shallow water and metamorphose after 17 to 45 days.[1][3]
The Great Plains toad has wide distribution and is not considered threatened, although it may suffer from road kills, farming, and suburban sprawl, increased droughts, and urbanization.[1]
The Great Plains toad (Anaxyrus cognatus) is a relatively large species of true toad native to central North America.
