Stats

Lifespan

5-13 yrs

Size

Small

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Desert

Range

North America

Movement

Burrowing

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Burrowing

Status

Uncommon

About

Couch's Spadefoot is a desert toad that spends most of the year buried underground, emerging only after heavy summer rains to breed in temporary pools that can dry up within days. It has a sharp, dark "spade" on each hind foot used for digging backward into the soil.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A jelly-coated egg is laid in water and develops over days into an aquatic larva.
2. 2.
   tadpole

   A gilled tadpole swims and grazes on algae, slowly absorbing its tail and growing limbs.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A near-adult amphibian leaves the water with new legs and lungs, smaller than the mature form.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown at adult size, breathing air.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Amphibia

Order

Anura

Family

Scaphiopodidae

Genus

Scaphiopus

Species

Scaphiopus couchii