Herpetofauna: One Life's List

Bufo fowleri
Fowler's Toad

St. Louis Co., Missouri
Spring 1973

For today's lesson in Toad-Spotting, I give you the Fowler's Toad, the only North American Toad named after two early American naturalists (formerly described as Bufo woodhousii fowleri).  Note the dark dorsal spots encircling 2-3 warts; note also the touching of the paratoid gland with the cranial ridges behind the eyes.  Not shown is the creamy, unspotted chin and chest.

Bufo fowleri is the toad most likely to be seen on the Snake Road in southern Illinois, day or night. They are everywhere, and in the late summer the little toadlets that have morphed from toadpoles swell their numbers.  By fall, most of the little toadlets are gone, having fallen prey to other creatures. Enough survive to reach adulthood and carry on the species.

The trill of the toad on a spring night is a beautiful sound, soft and yet full of purpose.