The Golden Toad (Bufo periglenes) was a small, shiny, bright, yellow-orange toad that was once abundant in a small region of high-altitude cloud-covered tropical forests, about 30 square kilometers in area, above the city of Monteverde, Costa Rica. For this reason, it is sometimes also called the Monteverde Golden Toad, or the Monte Verde Toad. Other common English names include Alajuela Toad and Orange Toad. They were described in 1966 by the herpetologist Jay Savage.[1] Since 1989, not a single Golden Toad is reported to have been seen anywhere in the world, and it is classified by the IUCN as an extinct species.[2] Its extinction is cited as part of the decline in amphibian populations, and may be attributable to climate change brought on by global warming.[3]
Biology
The Golden Toad was one of more than 250 species in the family Bufonidae, or "True Toad", family. The Golden Toad inhabited northern Costa Rica’s Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, distributed over an area of roughly ten square kilometers at an average elevation of one and a half kilometers.[4]
Morphology
Adult males measured just barely 5 centimeters (2 inches) long. They have been described as being "Day-Glo golden orange",[5] and unlike most toads their skin was shiny and bright. Savage was so surprised upon first seeing them that he did not believe they could be real; he is quoted as saying: "I must confess that my initial response when I saw them was one of disbelief and suspicion that someone had dipped the examples in enamel paint."[6] The female toads were slightly larger than the males, and looked very different. Instead of being bright orange, females were colored dark olive to black with scarlet spots encircled by yellow.
Reproduction
Very little is known about the behavior of the Golden Toads;[3] however, it is believed that they lived underground,[3] as they were not seen for most of the year. In contrast, their presence in the Cloud Forest Preserve was obvious during their mating season, which lasted only a few weeks. For a few weeks in April, after the dry season ended and the forest became wetter, males would gather in large numbers near ground puddles and wait for the females. Breeding activity lasted about a week. The males would fight with each other for opportunities to mate until the end of their short mating season, after which the toads retreated to their burrows.[3] Eggs were laid in seasonal water catchments in clutches, the average size of which was 228 eggs.[7] After two months, they hatched into tadpoles.[7] mentions arguments that an increase in UV-B radiation, fungus or parasites, or lowered pH levels contributed to the Golden Toad's extirpation.[4]
Notes and references
- ^ Savage, Jay M. (1966): An extraordinary new toad from Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical 14: 153–167.
- ^ Pounds & Savage (2004). Bufo periglenes. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map and a brief justification of why this species is listed as extinct.
- ^ a b c d Flannery, Tim (2005). The Weather Makers. Toronto, Ontario: HarperCollins, 114-119. ISBN 0871139359 }.
- ^ a b Neville, Jennifer J. "The Case of the Golden Toad:Weather Patterns Lead to Decline". North Ohio Association of Herpetologists online. URL accessed July 27, 2006.
- ^ Crump, Marty. In Search of the Golden Frogsic (1998) quoted in Flannery.
- ^ Savage, Jay quoted in Neville, Jennifer J.
- ^ a b Jacobson, S. K. and J.J. Vandenberg. 1991. "Reproductive ecology of the endangered golden toad (Bufo periglenes)." Journal of Herpetology 25(3):321-327. cited in Neville.
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