HOUSTON TOAD 



Bufo houstonensis Sanders 



KINGDOM Animalia 



CLASS Amphibia 



ORDER Anura 



FAMILY Bufonidae 



OTHER COMMON NAMES Wottring's toad 



DATE 



Entered into SWIS to be determined 



Updates 1 January 1978, 31 March 1978, 



22 May 1979 



LEGAL STATUS 



Federal: Endangered (35 FR 16047, 13 Octo- 

 ber 1970) 



States: Endangered: Texas. 



REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS 



Populations are extremely small and their 

 known distribution is restricted to two or three 

 disjunct localities. Early field studies indicated 

 Houston toads preferred temporary rain pools for 

 breeding sites, whereas other native toads 

 generally used more permanent bodies of water. 

 Man's alteration of natural watersheds has re- 

 duced the availability of temporary pools, forcing 

 Houston toads to breed in larger ponds, lakes, and 

 creeks where they have hybridized with the Gulf 

 Coast toad {B. valliceps) and the Woodhouse's 

 toad (J5. woodhousei) (Brown 1971). The prob- 

 lem is compounded because population levels are 

 so low that the probability of a female Houston 

 toad finding a conspecific mate in a mixed chorus 

 of toad species is slim (Brown 1971). 



