Structure: Tympanum much smaller than the eye; large, wide, 

 hind feet; skin on crown of head, thin; parotoid gland present; male 

 with a subgular vocal sac; males with fingers broader than females. 



Voice: Its call is a hoarse, coarse, monosyllable, wank, wank like 

 the calling of young crows. 



Breeding: They breed from March to September at periods of 

 heavy rainfall. The eggs are in irregular bands along grass blades or 

 plant stems, the band 1-2 inches (25-50 mm.) wide and 1-12 inches 

 (25-300 mm.) long, the egg 1/16-1/ 11 inch (1.4-2 mm.), the envelope 

 3/16-1/5 inch (4-5.6 mm.). They hatch in 1 1/2-2 davs. The 

 bronzy tadpole is small, 1 1/8 inches (28 mm.) broad, but not deep, its 

 tail short and rounded. After a tadpole period of 14 to 60 days, they 

 transform from July to September at 1/3-1/2 inch (8.5-12 mm.). 



Notes: August 16, 1922. On a detour, south of Hilliard, Florida, 

 ... we pitched camp on an oak ridge. An old road filled with water 

 made a shallow pond. The spadefoots were calling here and in another 

 similar pool and in a third deeper pool as well. The pond was filled 

 with pairs. When ready to lay, they went to the bottom of the pond, 

 often the male with his eyes closed, and the female with hers partly 

 closed. When she found a stem to suit her, she seized it with her front 

 feet and pushed with her hind feet. She walked or climbed up the 

 stem or along it if it fell to horizontal position as she laid the eggs, 

 the male clinging close to her back. . . . There was a strong chorus 

 that night and by the next morning the ponds were all churned up and 

 muddy. Many egg masses were there, but no toads. 



Key West Spadefoot. 



Scaphiopus holbrookii albus (Garman) . 



Range: Florida Keys and possibly the extreme southern part of 

 Florida. 



Size: Most of the specimens which we have seen are 54 to 56 mm. 

 in length or 2 1/6-2 1/4 inches. 



General appearance: This is like Holbrook's spadefoot but with 

 an excessive amount of white in the pattern. "Average size less than 

 that of preceding (S. h. holbrookii). Brown of the back lacks the red 

 or chocolate tinge. Readily distinguished by the great amount of 

 white on back, flanks, and upper surface of limbs. The white forms 

 spots or vermiculations which coalesce into bands of irregular shape 

 and extent." (Samuel Garman, 1884, p. 45). A doubtful subspecies. 



Structure: Apparently the interorbital distance is narrower in 

 S. h. albus than in S. h. holbrookii, being in body length 9.3-10 in 

 S. h. albus and 6.77-8.5 in S. h. holbrookii. 



Note: We have seen live specimens from Gainesville, Florida, which 

 seemed almost as light as the preserved specimens of this subspecies. 



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