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that attracts female toads. New research has shown that females tend to be more attracted to bright-colored males over their dark-colored peers. Thus creating a new aspect in their determination of the male's size and condition. Because the pools of water may be short-lived, mating occurs the first
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to fertilize the eggs, which are deposited in the pools of water in the form of a floating mass. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, which quickly mature into adults. They must reach this stage before the pool of water evaporates, and thus they sometimes mature in as little as 9 days after the eggs are
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Unlike other toads which have horizontal pupils, spadefoot toads have vertical pupils. On the underside of the hind foot is a hard, dark "spade" that gives spadefoot toads their name. These creatures can grow to be 3.5" in length. These "spades" are used by the toads to burrow into the ground to
333:), and remain underground during the dry season (fall and winter). When a summer thunderstorm arrives, the male toads emerge from underground and look for pools of rainwater. When they find water, the males produce a
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Vásquez, Tatiana; Pfennig, Karin S. (2007). "Looking on the bright side: females prefer coloration indicative of male size and condition in the sexually dichromatic spadefoot toad,
369:. Tadpoles gather in wriggling masses, stir up the muck on the bottom of the pool, and filter out the organic nutrients. Unlike most tadpoles, which are exclusively
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prevent water loss and hide from predators. There are two spadefoot species in the
Sonoran Desert of Arizona and California. Couch's spadefoot toad (
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to mature to the adult stage. Because of the importance of water, spadefoots are active during the wet season spring and summer in the
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Scientific and Common Names of the
Reptiles and Amphibians of North America – Explained
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laid. Western spadefoot toads take longer to mature (at least three weeks).
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https://www.jstor.org/stable/25511675?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
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southwest of southeastern
Colorado and central Oklahoma, northern
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Amphibian
Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0
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During reproduction, the male mounts the female and releases
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to collect plant, mineral, and animal specimens for the
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http://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_spadefoot.php
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513:Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum: Couch’s spadefoot (
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437:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T59041A53972475.en
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412:IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2022).
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285:Couch's spadefoot toad is native to the
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877:Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird
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476:. American Museum of Natural History
317:Water is a necessary medium for the
852:IUCN Red List least concern species
536:Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
423:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
301:, which includes parts of southern
297:. They can be found throughout the
242:is in honor of American naturalist
202:The call of Couch's spadefoot toad
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495:Beltz, Ellin (15 January 2007).
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872:Amphibians of the United States
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338:night after rainfall begins.
226:North American spadefoot toad
862:Amphibians described in 1854
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385:and tadpoles, as well as
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70:Scientific classification
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313:Mating and reproduction
252:Smithsonian Institution
24:Couch's spadefoot toad
558:Animal Diversity Web:
269:western spadefoot toad
207:Couch's spadefoot toad
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788:Paleobiology Database
430:: e.T59041A53972475.
381:. They also eat dead
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867:Amphibians of Mexico
16:Species of amphibian
416:Scaphiopus couchii
331:Northern Hemisphere
40:Conservation status
637:Scaphiopus-couchii
610:Scaphiopus couchii
580:Scaphiopus couchii
560:Scaphiopus couchii
532:Scaphiopus couchii
468:Scaphiopus couchii
357:near the pool and
216:Scaphiopus couchii
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179:Scaphiopus couchii
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775:Open Tree of Life
572:Taxon identifiers
515:Scaphiopus couchi
265:Scaphiopus couchi
244:Darius Nash Couch
211:Couch's spadefoot
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470:Baird, 1854"
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441:. Retrieved
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281:Distribution
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801:SeaLifeBase
749:NatureServe
697:iNaturalist
619:AmphibiaWeb
604:Wikispecies
335:mating call
258:Description
857:Scaphiopus
846:Categories
541:: 127–135.
396:References
371:herbivores
307:California
148:Scaphiopus
480:4 January
379:omnivores
155:Species:
93:Kingdom:
87:Eukaryota
754:2.105658
715:11037188
589:Wikidata
464:(2015).
327:tadpoles
293:and the
133:Family:
117:Amphibia
107:Chordata
103:Phylum:
97:Animalia
83:Domain:
60:IUCN 3.1
829:1287532
689:2429795
595:Q504971
383:insects
355:insects
303:Arizona
240:couchii
235:). The
222:species
143:Genus:
123:Order:
113:Class:
58: (
813:uBio:
793:362475
728:173429
676:332453
650:207476
443:12 May
291:Mexico
248:Mexico
230:family
188:, 1854
824:WoRMS
816:26122
806:61441
780:77494
767:85089
741:59041
710:IRMNG
702:26691
663:79THW
367:gills
359:algae
343:sperm
220:is a
186:Baird
127:Anura
762:NCBI
736:IUCN
723:ITIS
684:GBIF
645:BOLD
624:5274
482:2016
445:2023
428:2022
373:and
323:eggs
305:and
671:EoL
658:CoL
632:ASW
534:".
517:),
432:doi
351:sun
224:of
209:or
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
