Bufo
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True Toads
Monte Verde Toad (Bufo periglenes)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Anura Family: Bufonidae Genus: Bufo Laurenti, 1768
Species
See text.

Bufo is a large genus of about 150 species of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. Bufo is a Latin word for toad.

Description

This is a truly cosmopolitan genus, able to live under adverse conditions, and occurring around the world except in the Arctic and Antarctic, Australia (with the exception of the introduced Cane Toad), and New Guinea and neighbouring islands.

True toads have in common a stocky figure and short legs, which makes them poor jumpers. As with all members of the family Bufonidae, they lack a tail and teeth, and they have horizontal pupils. Their dry skin is thick and warty.

Western Toad (Bufo boreas)

Behind their eyes, Bufo species have a wartlike structure, the parotoid glands. These glands distinguish the true toads from all other tailless amphibians. They secrete a fatty, white poisonous substance which acts as a deterrent to predators. Ordinary handling of toads is not dangerous, and does not cause warts in contradiction to folk beliefs. The venom of most if not all toads contains bufotoxin; the venom of the Sonoran Desert Toad, Bufo alvarius, is a potent hallucinogen containing 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin. The venom's psychoactive effects are said to have been known to Precolumbian Native Americans^{citation needed}.

Toads can also inflate their bodies when threatened. Males are usually smaller than females and possess the organ of Bidder, an incomplete ovary. The adult males of many species show a dark throat.

Two species are found in the British Isles: the Common Toad (Bufo bufo), and the Natterjack Toad, (Bufo calamita). The former is found almost everywhere. The Natterjack, which differs in its shorter limbs with nearly free toes (which are so short that the toad never hops but proceeds in a running gait) and in usually possessing orange/red warts, green eyes & a pale yellow line along the middle of the back, is local in England, the south-west of Scotland, and the west of Ireland. It is further remarkable for the very loud croak of the males, produced by a large vocal bladder on the throat which, when inflated, is larger than the head.

Psychoactive properties

There are several species of Bufo toads which produce venom that has psychoactive properties. The venom of one species (Bufo alvarius) contains both 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin, while several others contain only bufotenin.^{citation needed}

Groups

Species in this genus can be quite different, which has led to a recent recommendation in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History to split the genus, a recommendation that has been rejected (in part) by many taxonomists (see Pauly et al., 2004, Evolution 58: 2517–2535). Instead, the relationships between the different species are formalized by categorizing them into subgenera, such as Anaxyrus and Rhinella. Other taxonomists recognize various informal species groups, such as:

Species

Colorado River Toad (Bufo alvarius)

Bufo is a large group, and it is usually divided into several subgenera. Frost et. al. removed in 2006 most of the species of former "Bufo" to other genera and restricted the name Bufo to members of the Bufo bufo group of earlier authors.
The Rhinella is composed of the former Rhamphophryne and Chaunus genera combined, and is placed in its own separate genus. Some herpetologists disagree and maintain these species in Bufo. Here the Rhinella are omitted to be treated in a separate page.

Subgenus Anaxyrus

Contains 22 species - see separate page.

Subgenus Bufo

Composed of 12 species. Found in Temperate Eurasia and Japan south to North Africa, the Middle East, northeastern Myanmar and northern Vietnam.

Group "Bufo"

An assemblage of 25 species which remained outside the main groups. Frost et. al. denoted the species in this group as polyphyletic by placing "Bufo" in quotation marks. Presumably, as these taxa are studied they will be allocated to one or another of the existing groups.

Subgenus Nannophryne

Four species. Removed from the synonymy of Bufo by Frost et. al., 2006. Smith and Chiszar, 2006 implied that this taxon should be considered a subgenus of Bufo. Found in South America.

Subgenus Olletis

Contains 33 species. Frost et. al. moved these members to a separate genus in 2006, first to Cranopsis and then to Olletis. Some herpetologists are retaining the use of Bufo at this time (e.g., following Pauly et al., 2004) as the valid name for this group of toads.

Subgenus Peltophryne

Contains 11 species. Distributed in the Greater Antilles.

Subgenus Phrynoidis

Two species. Redelimited and removed from the synonymy of Bufo by Frost et. al., 2006. Others implied that this taxon should be considered a subgenus of Bufo.

Subgenus Poyntonophrynus

Ten species. Frost et. al. moved it in 2006 to a separate genus.

Subgenus Pseudepidalea

15 species. Frost et. al. moved it in 2006 to a separate genus. It is the Bufo viridis group of previous authors.

Subgenus Rhaebo

Eight species. Redelimited and removed from the synonymy of Bufo by Frost et. al., 2006. Others implied that this taxon should be considered a subgenus of Bufo.

Subgenus Vandijkophrynus

Five species. It is the former Bufo angusticeps group of Tandy and Keith, 1972. This group was placed by Frost et. al. in a separate genus.

References

• "Amphibian Species of the World 5.1 - Bufonidae". Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
• amphibiaweb.org - Bufo

• Pauly, G. B., D. M. Hillis, and D. C, Cannatella. (2004) The history of a Nearctic colonization: Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of the Nearctic toads (Bufo). Evolution 58: 2517–2535.
• Frost, Darrel (2006). "The Amphibian Tree of Life". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297: 1–371. 
• Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World
• Blair (ed.), 1972, Evol. Genus Bufo.