On an Ornithology field trip to Magnolia plantation I was able to catch a Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris). Unfortunately, I had put him back on the ground before a camera was available, so the photo is of him hiding beneath a tree root. He was easily identified as a toad (Family Bufonidae) by his relatively slow hopping, dry, warty skin, parotoid glands, horizontal pupil,and lack of spade. He was identified as a Southern Toad by the highly pronounched knobs and cranial crests, reddish-brown coloration, and slightly obscured mid-dorsal stripe. He was found hopping across the trail in the forest adjacent to a pond. Southern toads breed in shallow water, with eggs hatching into tadpoles that metamorphose into toads. They are terrestrial foragers, and can usually be found at night; the field trip was early in the morning just after sunrise, which would explain the hiding behavior. He was a bit smaller than the palm of my hand, slow and easy to catch. Southern Toads can be found on the Coastal Plain, from Virginia to Mississippi, as well as throughout Florida.
(Maggie Veith, SC)
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