THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Rhinophrynidae  

Burrowing Toad
Rhinophrynus dorsalis Duméril and Bibron, 1841
ry-NOH-fry-nus — dor-SAL-iss

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.09.45.13)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.33 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
A burrowing frog with a prominent dorsal stripe or pattern, and a name referencing its snout.
Rhinophrynus — From Greek rhinos (ῥινός), “snout,” and phrynos (φρῦνος), “toad.” The name means “snouted toad,” describing the species’ pointed nose and burrowing adaptation.
dorsalis — From Latin dorsum, “back,” and -alis, “pertaining to.” Refers to markings or features on the back (dorsum), typically a stripe or ridge.

First instance(s) of published English names:
No historic English names have been assigned to this taxon yet.

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
Amphibian Species of the World
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1841 Dumeril, A. M. Constant and Gabriel Bibron. Erpetologie Generale ou Histoire Naturelle Complete Des Reptiles. Tome Huitieme. [General Herpetology or Complete Natural History of Reptiles. Volume Eight.] Librairie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, France. 784pp.
1969 Fouquette, M. J., Jr. Rhinophrynidae, Rhinophrynus, R. dorsalis. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (78):1-2
1976 Bogart, James P. and Craig E. Nelson. Evolutionary implication from karyotypic analysis of frogs of the families Microhylidae and Rhinophrynidae. Herpetologica 32(2):199-208

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:59 CT