The Plains Spadefoot is characterized by moist skin, a round snout, eyes which are vertically slit when exposed to strong light, and a black spur at the base of each hind foot. The head, body, and limbs of this species are light to medium gray with irregular darker markings and two poorly defined light lines down the back. The belly is white. Males have dark throats, and females have heavier bodies than males.
Adults normally 38-50 mm (1½-2 inches) in snout-vent length. The largest Kansas specimen is a male (KU 20012) from Barber County with snout-vent length of 64 mm (2½ inches) collected by Claude W. Hibbard on 29 August 1935. This is the maximum length throughout the range (Powell et al., 2016).
The Plains Spadefoot is found in western Kansas to the edge of the Flint Hills, and east along the floodplain of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. It is seldom encountered except when chorusing or moving (often across roads) The Plains Spadefoot inhabits prairies and open floodplains. It prefers areas of loose soil or sand, into which during rainy weather it burrows during daylight hours and from which it emerges in the evening to forage, particularly after rain. In northeastern Kansas, Fitch (1958) found this species scarce in the wooded uplands of his study area and considered small mammal burrows to be their favored retreats. Plains Spadefoots are active from late April to September.
The Plains Spadefoot is an explosive and opportunistic breeder, emerging from its underground retreats for this purpose after the first warm, heavy spring rain and continuing to congregate under suitable conditions throughout the summer. Males loudly chorus for females to join them around temporary rain-pools on floodplains or open prairie. The male mounts a female, clasping her around the groin with his front limbs. The female deposits her eggs, and the male arches his body and fertilizes them in the water. Each female may lay up to 2,000 eggs in masses of 10- 250 each; they are attached to partly submerged vegetation or other protruding objects.
The eggs hatch, and metamorphosis occurs at widely varying intervals dependent on water temperature, oxygen content, and competition for available food between tadpoles. Evidently, tadpoles of this species are cannibalistic under crowded conditions. Smith (1934) stated that this species breeds anytime after the first heavy rain of mid-spring and (1956) specified that this species normally breeds after a minimum spring rainfall of 88.9 mm (3.5 inches) coincident with an air temperature of 52°F or higher. Fitch (1958) reported that this species breeds chiefly on the lowland floodplain of the Kansas River in Douglas County. Hoyt (1960) found adults mating in a temporary pool on 2 July in Riley County and gave a detailed description of egg-laying and eggs of this species. Knight and Collins (1977) reported adult males of the Plains Spadefoot calling on 23 May at 2300 hours amidst a chorus of Woodhouse's Toads in a sandpit lake in Cheyenne County and observed large numbers of tadpoles of the Plains Spadefoot during daylight hours in small impoundments in the same county. Heinrich and Kaufman (1985) reported two males calling from a temporary pool in a roadside ditch on 10 June in the Konza Prairie. Irwin and Collins (1987) reported two of these amphibians active at night on 4 May and heard seven Plains Spadefoots chorusing at night on 2 June, all at Cheyenne Bottoms in Barton County.
Beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, ants, and other small insects are the preferred food of this species.
Brennan (1936) reported predation on a young Plains Spadefoot by a domestic cat in Ellis County.
References
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