Anura Bufo fowleri -- Fowler's Toad
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Purple shade indicates vouchered specimens. Light blue (cyan)
shade indicates photographic records. Yellow shade indicates verified
sighting. Slanted hatch indicates pre-1980 records only
NOTE: Not all specimens upon which these maps are based have been verified.
Key Characters: Three or more small warts in each dark back spot; warts on lower leg not noticeably enlarged; cranial crests low and less massive than American toad.
Similar Species: American toad, eastern spadefoot.
Subspecies: Sometimes considered a subspecies of Wood-house's toad, B. woodhousii fowleri.
Description: Medium-sized (up to 8 cm SVL), gray to greenish gray toad with large dark back spots roughly in pairs flanking light midback stripe. Chest and belly white or gray; dark pigment, if any, limited to small spot on chest. Transverse cranial crest in broad contact with parotoid gland. Hybrids with B. americanus have intermediate features.
Habitat: A wide variety of habitats where flooded fields, ditches, and other bodies of water are available for reproduction.
Natural History: Adults are active on the surface day and night. Diet consists of insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates. Breeding takes place from late April to late June. The male breeding call, a short "waaaa," is heard from shallows of ponds and lakes and flooded ditches. Eggs are laid in long strings. Eggs and tadpoles are similar to those of American toad. Embryos hatch in a week and transform from June through July.
Status: Occasionally hybridizes with American toad in lower Mississippi River valley. Common in southern half of state and along Illinois and Mississippi rivers (see distribution map, above).