Eastern Spadefoot
Scaphiopus holbrookii
(click image to enlarge)

Appearance: The Eastern Spadefoot is not difficult to identify due to its unique appearance.  Bulging eyes with vertical pupils (as opposed to horizontal pupils in toads) are one of this species' most obvious characteristics.  The dorsum has a pale yellow hourglass or lyre shaped marking on a dark olive ground color. Each hind foot has a spade-like, keratinized tubercle used for digging.

Habits and Habitat: Spadefoots are inhabitants of forests with sandy or friable soils and spend most days in underground burrows, emerging on damp nights to feed. An excellent way to locate these frogs is with a powerful headlamp at night.  When illuminated, a Spadefoot's large eyes reflect a pink glow, giving away their location.

Vocalization: The Spadefoot's call, voiced almost only during explosive breeding events, is a brief, plosive snore or grunt.

Reproduction/Egg Description: Reproduction occurs during extremely heavy rains of several inches or more, which stimulate simultaneous breeding in entire populations (referred to as "explosive breeding").  Although these rains are most common in spring or summer, breeding can occur at any time of year. Egg deposition takes place in almost any temporary pool or pond formed by these rains.  Eggs, numbering in the thousands per female, are laid in strings. The eggs develop and hatch quickly, and tadpoles develop rapidly due to the ephemeral nature of the breeding sites.  Juvenile Eastern Spadefoots leave their nurseries in similarly explosive events, and small armies of these tiny frogs can sometimes be seen moving away from breeding habitats. For more information:  http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/herpetology/herpbiology/toadjubilee1.htm

Distribution and Abundance: Apparently restricted more by soil type than any other factor, the Eastern Spadefoot occurs in much of the eastern United States, from Alabama eastward and north to Massachusetts. Although not easily detected, Spadefoots occur in large numbers where habitat characteristics are appropriate. This is a common, though secretive, member of the southeastern fauna.

SE ARMI Index Sites: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.