THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Scaphiopodidae  

Couch's Spadefoot
Scaphiopus couchii Baird, 1854
SKAH-fee-oh-pus — KOW-chee-eye

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: 2024.10.16.13.08.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.79 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Arizona California Colorado New Mexico Oklahoma Texas

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a 19th-century explorer and naturalist.
Scaphiopus — From Greek skaphe (σκάφη), “spade” or “bowl,” and pous (πούς), “foot”—meaning “spade-foot,” referring to the hardened, keratinous tubercle on the hind foot used for digging.
couchii — A patronym honoring Darius Nash Couch (1822–1897), an American army officer and naturalist who collected the type specimen during his expeditions in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Couch's Spade Foot (Scaphiopus couchi: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Sonora Spade Foot (Scaphiopus varius rectifrenis: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Cape St. Lucas Spade Foot (Scaphiopus varius varius: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Couch's Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii: Strecker, John K., Jr. 1922. An annotated catalogue of the amphibians and reptiles of Bexar County, Texas. Bulletin Scientific Society of San Antonio (4):1-31); Southern Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.); Sonoran Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii rectifrenis: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.); Sonora Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii rectifrenis: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.); Cape St. Lucas Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii varius: Wright, Anna Allen, and Alex Hazen Wright. 1933. Handbook of frogs and toads. The frogs and toads of the United States and Canada Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, NY. xi+231pp.); Great Plains Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

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

Selected References:
1854 Baird, Spencer F. Descriptions of new genera and species of North American frogs. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 7:59–62
1939 Tanner, Vasco M. A study of the genus Scaphiopus. Western North American Naturalist 1(1):3-26
1954 Lowe, Charles H., Jr. Isolating mechanisms in sympatric populations of southwestern anurans. Texas Journal of Science 6(3):265-270
1956 Chrapliwy, Pete S. Taxonomy and distribution of the spadefoot toads of North America (Salientia: Pelobatidae). Thesis. University of Kansas, Lawrence. 131pp.
1957 Wasserman, Aaron O. Factors affecting interbreeding in sympatric species of spadefoots (genus Scaphiopus). Evolution 11(3):320-338
1963 Bragg, Arthur N. and S. Hayes. A study of labial teeth rows in tadpoles of Couch's Spadefoot. Wasmann Journal of Biology 21(2):149-154
1970 Wasserman, Aaron O. Scaphiopus couchii. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (85):1-4
1980 Sattler, P. W. Genetic relationship among selected species of North American Scaphiopus. Copeia 1980(4):605-610
2000 Maglia, Anne M. Phylogenetic Relationships of Pelobatoid Frogs (Anura: Pelobatoidea). Dissertation. University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. pp.
2002 Buchholz, Daniel R. and Tyrone B. Hayes. Evolutionary patterns of diversity in spadefoot toad metamorphosis (Anura: Pelobatidae). Copeia 2002(1):180-189
2005 Enderson, Erik F. and Robert L. Bezy. Amphibians of the Vekol Valley. Sonoran Herpetologist 18(7):74-79
2017 Bezy, Robert L., Philip C. Rosen, Thomas R. Van Devender, and Erik F. Enderson. Southern distributional limits of the Sonoran Desert herpetofauna along the mainland coast of northwestern Mexico Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1):138-167

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 15:53 CT