| Asiatic toad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Specimen collected on mountainside in Miryang, South Korea. | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Bufonidae |
| Genus: | Bufo |
| Species: | B. gargarizans |
| Binomial name | |
| Bufo gargarizans Cantor, 1842 | |
The Asiatic toad or Chusan Island toad (Bufo gargarizans) is a species of toad endemic to East Asia. The species was previously classified as Bufo bufo gargarizans, a subspecies of the common toad.
It is common in China (specifically Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Zhejiang) and portions of the Russian Far East (up north to the Amur River valley and on Sakhalin Island, and east to Transbaikalia in Siberia), [2] but relatively rare on the Korean Peninsula. Asiatic toads are also found on the Miyako Islands of southern Japan, although they have been extirpated from some islands in recent years, possibly including Okinawa. The Miyako subspecies, Bufo gargarizans miyakonis , is also known as the Miyako toad . [1]
The Asiatic toad avoids dense forests, but is found in most other habitats, including grasslands, open forests, meadows, and cultivated areas. It prefers humid areas, and is seldom found at altitudes of more than 800 meters. [1]
The Asiatic toad plays an important role in traditional Oriental medicine. An extract of the toxins secreted by the toad, known as toad venom or chan-su, has long been touted for its medicinal properties. In addition, dried toad skins have been prescribed as remedies for dropsy and other ailments. More recently, Western medical science has also taken an interest in the toad. In 1998, an antimicrobial peptide was extracted from the toad, and patented. [3]
The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad, is a frog found throughout most of Europe, in the western part of North Asia, and in a small portion of Northwest Africa. It is one of a group of closely related animals that are descended from a common ancestral line of toads and which form a species complex. The toad is an inconspicuous animal as it usually lies hidden during the day. It becomes active at dusk and spends the night hunting for the invertebrates on which it feeds. It moves with a slow, ungainly walk or short jumps, and has greyish-brown skin covered with wart-like lumps.
Bufotoxins are a family of toxic steroid lactones or substituted tryptamines of which some are toxic. They occur in the parotoid glands, skin, and poison of many toads and other amphibians, and in some plants and mushrooms. The exact composition varies greatly with the specific source of the toxin.
The European green toad is a species of true toad found in steppes, mountainous areas, semi-deserts, urban areas and other habitats in mainland Europe, ranging from far eastern France and Denmark to the Balkans, Western Russia and the Caucasus. As historically defined, the species ranged east through the Middle East and Central Asia to western China, Mongolia and northwestern India, and south through Italy and the Mediterranean islands to North Africa.
The American toad is a common species of toad found throughout Canada and the eastern United States. It is divided into three subspecies: the eastern American toad, the dwarf American toad and the rare Hudson Bay toad. Recent taxonomic treatments place this species in the genus Anaxyrus instead of Bufo.
A true toad is any member of the family Bufonidae, in the order Anura. This is the only family of anurans in which all members are known as toads, although some may be called frogs. The bufonids now comprise more than 35 genera, Bufo being the best known.
Woodhouse's toad is a medium-sized true toad native to the United States and Mexico. There are three recognized subspecies. A. woodhousii tends to hybridize with Anaxyrus americanus where their ranges overlap.
The Oriental fire-bellied toad is a small semiaquatic frog species found in northeastern Asia, where they primarily dwell in slow-moving bodies of water and temperate forests. Quite common throughout much of their range, these frogs have mild toxins that can be excreted through their skin, with their vibrant underbellies serving as a warning of this. While not a true toad, their green and black skin is covered in small tubercles, giving them a toadlike appearance. Their sounds, mainly produced by males during the mating season, are very unlike those of other frogs. While their population is in decline, their numbers are still high overall, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) rating them as a least-concern species. They are commonly kept as pets in land and water vivaria, as a relatively easy-to-care for species. They are also frequently used in scientific research, with their behavior, vocalizations, and learning skills all moderately studied.
The North American green toad is a species of toad found in the southwestern United States in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as in northern Mexico in the states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Durango, and Zacatecas. It is commonly called green toad.
Kaloula baleata, the flower pot toad or sometimes the smooth-fingered narrow-mouthed frog, is a species of narrow-mouthed toad. It is native to India, Borneo, Indochinese Peninsula, Java, Malay Peninsula and Philippines where it lives in lowland rainforests and is tolerant of disturbed sites. The IUCN lists it as being of "Least Concern".
The Mongolian toad, also known commonly as the piebald toad or the Siberian sand toad, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. The species is endemic to northeastern Asia. It was formerly placed in the genus Bufo, then for a few years in Pseudepidalea until finally moved to its own genus Strauchbufo.
Bufo bankorensis is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Taiwan and widely distributed at elevations up to 3,000 m (9,800 ft) above sea level. There has been doubts about its separatedness from Bufo gargarizans from China and even other species, but it is currently considered a valid species.
The Japanese common toad, Japanese warty toad or Japanese toad is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Japan. Its natural habitats are subarctic forests, temperate forests, temperate shrubland, swamps, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, freshwater springs, arable land, rural gardens, urban areas, ponds, and irrigated land. Amplexus is the mating behaviour involved in the Japanese common toad during the breeding season.
Bufotes pseudoraddei is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is found in the West Himalayan region, including northern Pakistan and the border area between western Xizang of China and adjacent northwestern India. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, plantations, and rural gardens.
Sclerophrys regularis, commonly known as the African common toad, square-marked toad, African toad, Egyptian toad, African bouncing toad and Reuss's toad, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is found widely in the Subsaharan Africa, with its range extending to the oases in Algeria and Libya as well as to northern Nilotic Egypt. Specifically, it is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Uganda.
Bufo eichwaldi, commonly known as Eichwald's toad or the Talysh toad, is a species of true toads in the family Bufonidae. It was first described by Litvinchuk, Borkin, Skorinov and Rosanov in 2008 and is found in the Talysh and Elburz Mountains in Azerbaijan and parts of northern Iran. It was previously considered to be a subspecies of the Caucasian toad.
The Miyako toad is a subspecies of the Asiatic toad that is native to the Miyako Islands, in the Ryūkyū Islands of Japan.
The spiny toad, spiny common toad, or giant toad is a species of toad native to the Iberian Peninsula, southern France, extreme northwestern Italy, and North Africa. There is an isolated population in Jersey in the Channel Islands. For much of the 20th century, it was considered either a synonym or a subspecies of common toad Bufo bufo, but it is now classified as a separate species.
