Southern blade root
| Southern blade root | ||||||||||||
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Southern blade foot ( Scaphiopus couchii ), young animal |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Scaphiopus couchii | ||||||||||||
| Baird , 1854 |
The southern blade root ( Scaphiopus couchii ) is a land-based frog . This toad is found in the southern United States and Mexico and belongs to one of three species of the genus Scaphiopus from the family of American paddock toads . The color of the upper side is yellow to yellowish-green, and the toad is darkly marbled. The appearance is typical of amphibians who survive drought by digging into the ground. The five to nine centimeters long toad has black "digging shovels" on the soles of the feet, which enable it to dig itself backwards very quickly into sandy earth. In the case of the southern blade root, survival in the ground is achieved by a waterproof cover that surrounds the amphibian. This is caused by the shedding of several layers of skin. The toad remains in a state of rest at a depth of about one meter until the next rain sets in. When this happens, the protective shell breaks open and the amphibian crawls to the surface, where it then reproduces.
swell
- David Burnie: Animals - The Great Picture Encyclopedia . Dorling Kindersley Verlag, 2001. ISBN 3-8310-0202-9
Web links
- More photos of Scaphiopus couchii at www.wildherps.com
- Scaphiopus couchii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Georgina Santos-Barrera, Geoffrey Hammerson, 2004. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
