THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Scaphiopodidae  

Plains Spadefoot
Spea bombifrons (Cope, 1863)

Current SSAR 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: 2023.04.10.13.21.19)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.84 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: Alberta Manitoba Saskatchewan
USA: Arizona Arkansas Colorado Iowa Kansas Missouri Montana Nebraska New Mexico North Dakota Oklahoma South Dakota Texas Utah Wyoming

First instance(s) of published English names:
Cope's Spea (Spea bombifrons: 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); Central Plains Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus bombifrons: Smith, Hobart M. 1934. The Amphibians of Kansas. American Midland Naturalist 15(4):377-527); Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus hammondi bombifrons: Brennan, Lawrence A. 1934. A check list of the amphibians and reptiles of Ellis County, Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 37():189-191); Central Plains Spadefoot (Scaphiopus bombifrons: 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:
1863 Cope, Edward D. On Trachycephalus and Scaphiopus and other batrachia. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 15():43-54
1939 Tanner, Vasco M. A study of the genus Scaphiopus. Western North American Naturalist 1(1):3-26
1946 Bragg, Arthur N. Aggregation with cannibalism in tadpoles of Scaphiopus bombifrons with some general remarks on the probable evolutionary significance of such phenomena. Herpetologica 3(3):89-97
1950 Firschein, I. Lester. A new record of Spea bombifrons from northern Mexico and remarks on the status of the hammondii group of spadefoot anurans. Herpetologica 6():75-77
1955 Blair, W. Frank. Differentiation of mating call in spadefoots, genus Scaphiopus. Texas Journal of Science 7(2):183-188
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
1957 Bragg, Arthur N. Variation in colors and color patterns in tadpoles of Scaphiopus bombifrons. Copeia 1957(1):36-39
1958 Bragg, Arthur N. and William N. Bragg. Variations in the mouth parts in tadpoles of Scaphiopus (Spea) bombifrons Cope (Amphibia: Salientia). Southwestern Naturalist 3(1-4):55-69
1966 Bragg, Arthur N. Longevity of the tadpole stage in the Plains Spadefoot (Amphibia: Salientia). Wasmann Journal of Biology 24(1):71-73
1967 Brown, Herbert A. Embryonic temperature adaptations and genetic compatibility in two allopatric populations of the spadefoot toads (genus Scaphiopus). Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science (286):1-15
1967 Brown, Herbert A. Embryonic temperature adaptations and genetic compatibility in two allopatric populations of the spadefoot toad, Scaphiopus hammondi. Evolution 21(4):742-761
1976 Brown, Herbert A. The status of California and Arizona populations of the western spadefoot toads (genus Scaphiopus). Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science (286):1-14
1980 Sattler, P. W. Genetic relationship among selected species of North American Scaphiopus. Copeia 1980(4):605-610
1985 Sattler, P. W. Introgressive hybridization between the spadefoot toads Scaphiopus bombifrons and S. multiplicatus (Salientia: Pelobatidae). Copeia 1985():324-332
1989 Wiens, John J. Ontogeny of the skeleton of Spea bombifrons (Anura: Pelobatidae). Journal of Morphology 202():29-51
1991 Wiens, John J. and Tom A. Titus. A phylogenetic analysis of Spea (Anura: Pelobatidae). Herpetologica 47(1):21-28
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

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Monday 24 March 2025 21:36 CT