UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS 



BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 



GEOLOGY 



Vol. 10, No. 17, pp. 287-292, 3 text figures Issued May 26, 1917 



AN EXTINCT TOAD FROM RANCHO LA BRKAr--: — : 



^ sonian 



CHARLES LEWIS CAMP 



nsti fl 



* JUN 7-1917 * 



INTRODUCTION 



The only amphibian remains so far discovered in the asphaliSte 

 posits of Rancho La Brea are those of toads. This material includes, 

 besides remains of the species now inhabiting the region (Bufo boreas 

 halophilus), some limb-bones, vertebrae and part of a skull of an 

 undescribed species of toad now extinct. But few fossil salientians 

 have yet come to light, and as the fragile nature of their bones makes 

 it improbable that very many ever will be found, unusual value at- 

 taches to the present collection. The finding in the same Pleistocene 

 deposits of numbers of beetles of a kind often fed upon by toads is 

 significant ; and the discovery of bones of toads in the Pleistocene in 

 as great numbers as in the Recent localities would seem to mean that 

 toads were then as abundant in the region as they are today. 



The extinct species here described seems closely related to the 

 Recent Bufo boreas, a species ranging along the Pacific Coast from 

 southeastern Alaska to San Diego, California. There is unfortunately 

 some question as to the exact locality of occurrence of the type skull 

 of the fossil toad, and hence as to whether it is really a Pleistocene 

 form ; but a parasphenoid from Pleistocene locality 2051 corresponds 

 exactly with the type of the new species, and differs, as does the type, 

 from the single parasphenoid from Recent locality 2052, and from 

 B. boreas. Measurements of the parasphenoid from locality 2052, in 

 addition to other skeletal measurements (see table II), seem to show 

 that the toad from that locality resembles Bufo boreas more closely 

 than the extinct form. 



BUFO NESTOR, n. sp. 

 Type specimen, a portion of a skull, No. 22468, Univ. Calif. Coll. Vert. 

 Palae., consisting of all the anterior cranial, otic, and occipital elements intact 

 except for slight damage to the left frontoparietal. Locality 2051, Rancho 

 La Brea, Los Angeles County, California. 



