Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas

An adult South American Cane Toad from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia (iNat: 141593743). Image by iNat user Steve Murray (sjmurray55).

An adult South American Cane Toad from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico (iNat: 142038307). Image by iNat user Yair X. De Jesus Castro (yairvaranus).

AMPHIBIA (Amphibians) ANURA (Frogs) BUFONIDAE (True Toads)

Mesoamerican Cane Toad
Rhinella horribilis (Linnaeus 1758)
ry-NELL-ah — hor-RIB-ih-lis

Conservation Status:
State: None
Federal: None
NatureServe State: None - None
NatureServe National: None - None
NatureServe Global: None - None
CITES: None

Etymology:
The scientific name Rhinella horribilis combines Greek and Latin roots that describe both physical traits and an imposing impression:
Rhinella — From Greek: ῥίς (rhis, genitive rhinos) = “nose” Diminutive Latin suffix -ella = “little”. Rhinella roughly means “little nose”, referring to the raised, bony snout typical of many toads in this genus.
horribilis — From Latin: horribilis = “terrible,” “frightful,” or “horrible” This name refers to the toad’s large, warty, and intimidating appearance, as well as its potent toxins.

Diagnosis:

Distribution:

(, Museum Voucher) (, Observation) (, Literature Record) (, Online Record), ( Fossil)
Open icons are questionable records; Click on a marker to view details.
Full range depicted by light shaded red area. Export Google Earth (.kml)

Occurrence Summary:
8
Records
8
Museum Vouchers
0
Other Observations

Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):
Trego (8);

Natural History:

Occurrence Activity:
Number of Unique Obervations (=days): 0; Range: 01 Jan to 01 Jan

Chorusing:

Audio recording by Keith Coleman.

Chorusing Phenology: The black outlined dots denote the Julian date (day of the year; 1 January = 1 to 31 December = 365) an observation was made. The thin red line depicts the range of dates between the beginning of the first, and end of the fourth quartile (excluding outliers; Tukey method). The thick light blue bar represents the second and third quartile (interquartile range; the middle 50% of all observations). Only one observation per Julian date is included in the graphs; so a date with multiple observations carries the same weight as a date with only one observation. The vertical bars correspond to the 12 months of the year; January through December.
Number of Unique Obervations: ; Range: ; Interquartile range: ;

Remarks:

Bibliography:

1975	Holman, J. Alan. Herpetofauna of the WaKeeney local fauna (Lower Pliocene: Clarendionian) of Trego County, Kansas. Pages 49-66 in Studies on Cenozoic Paleontology and Stratigraphy in honor of Claude W. Hibbard. Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. pp.
1998	Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians & Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 131pp.
2012	Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada: Second Edition, Revised and Updated. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 152pp.
2017	Crother, Brian I. (editor) Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. Eighth edition. Herpetological Circulars (43):1-102
2019	Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada. Third Edition. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 192pp.

Account Last Updated:
4/8/2025 8:05:10 AM - page took 0.0803957 seconds to load.