THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Amphibia    Anura    Scaphiopodidae  

Great Basin Spadefoot
Spea intermontana (Cope, 1883)
SPEE-ah — in-ter-MON-tan-uh

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 See comment under Spea hammondii. Neal et al., 2018 (Conservation Genetics 19: 937–946), using nDNA and mtDNA recovered two distinct clades (“Oregon” and “California”), with the “Oregon” clade being sister to S. bombifrons and support for the California clade recovered as sister to the Southern clade of S. hammondii. (Mendelson, Joseph R., III, Darrel R. Frost, Emily Moriarty Lemmon, and Maureen A. Donnelly. 2025. Anura – Frogs. Pages 1-9 in Kirsten E. Nicholson (Editor), Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding, 9th Edition. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Lawrence, Kansas. 87 pp.)

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.12.19.09.55.02)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.43 MB

Province/State Distribution:
Canada: British Columbia
United States: Arizona California Colorado Idaho Nevada Oregon Utah Washington Wyoming

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named for its occurrence in the mountainous basins between western ranges.
Spea — From Greek σπαθη (spathē) = “blade” or “spade”. Spea is a Latinized form referencing the keratinous spade-like projection on the hind feet, which these frogs use for burrowing.
intermontana — From Latin inter- (“between”) and montanus (“mountains”), meaning “between the mountains.” Refers to the species’ range in the intermontane western United States, especially the Great Basin.

First instance(s) of published English names:
Great Basin Spadefoot (Scaphiopus hammondi intermontanus: 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:
1883 Cope, Edward D. Notes on the geographical distribution of Batrachia and Reptilia in western North America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 35:10-35
1939 Tanner, Vasco M. A study of the genus Scaphiopus. Western North American Naturalist 1(1):3-26
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
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
1989 Tanner, Wilmer W. Status of Spea stagnalis Cope (1875), Spea intermontanus Cope (1889), and a systematic review of Spea hammondii Baird (1839) (Amphibia: Anura). Great Basin Naturalist 49:503-510
1991 Wiens, John J. and Tom A. Titus. A phylogenetic analysis of Spea (Anura: Pelobatidae). Herpetologica 47(1):21-28
1998 Hall, John A. Scaphiopus intermontanus Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (650):1-17
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: Friday 05 December 2025 15:57 CT