Distribution:
The Chihuahuan Green Toad is presently restricted to rangeland/canyon systems above the Smoky Hill River and Ladder Creek drainages in Greeley, Logan, Wallace, and Wichita counties. The historic range was probably continuous (except for the sandy alluvial valley of the Arkansas River) from Logan and Wallace/Sherman counties south to the nearest populations in northwestern Oklahoma, northern Texas, northeastern New Mexico, and southeastern Colorado. Prior to the mid-1800s this area consisted of short-grass prairies interspersed with playa wetlands but has since been altered by cultivation and landscape and drainage modifications to point that they cannot support Chihuahuan Green Toads.
The reports from Morton County (Cragin 1894; Taylor 1929; Hill 1931; KU 5643-54; MVZ 43326) were all taken before the Dust Bowl conditions of the 1930s. Other locations reported (but without extant voucher specimens) or from localities too imprecise to plot are Grant County (KU 5642; Kellogg 1932), Hamilton County (Cragin 1894; see Remarks), and Barber County (Cragin 1894).
(,   Museum Voucher) (,   Observation) (,   Literature Record) (,   iNat Record), (  Fossil)
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• Occurrence Summary:  
• 206
  Records 
• 122
  Museum Vouchers 
• 84
  Other Observations 

Some county occurrences indicated below may be too imprecise to map above.
County Breakdown: County Name (# occurrences):
Grant (1); Greeley (15); Hamilton (1); Logan (107); Morton (16); Sherman (1); Wallace (64); Wichita (1);

Fossil History:
Not known from Kansas.

Natural History:
Burkhart (1984) and Taggart (1992) studied this toad in western Kansas, and some of my information is based on their observations. This toad generally inhabits areas of rugged topography amidst open grass plains at elevations of 2,500 feet or higher with an average annual rainfall of under twenty inches. It prefers areas along intermittent streams and wet places below cattle tanks and the dams of small ponds. It is very secretive and normally active only at night.
Cragin (1894) reported it abundant during rainy weather in September in Morton County along the Cimarron River. Taylor (1929) found dead individuals (evidently killed by hail) in a small temporary pool north of the Cimarron River in Morton County on 8 August. He also commented on the discovery of this species beneath rocks on the north bluffs of the Cimarron River in the same county.
Roth and Collins (1979) reported an adult female Green Toad active by day on 10 June in Wallace County. The specimen was found on the south-facing slope of a dry east-west ravine below a bluff on rocky, sandy soil.
Chihuahuan Green Toads often take refuge under rocks or in existing rodent, or other, burrows. They currently inhabit open native grassland plains and canyon systems in Kansas (as much of their upland prairie habitats have been lost to cultivation).
The Green Toad is an opportunistic breeder, and mating probably occurs throughout the spring and summer during and after rainfall. It evidently breeds in shallow ditches, flooded fields, cattle tanks, and other temporary pools. The eggs are laid singly or in short strings (which form clumps) and hatch into tadpoles which later metamorphose. Two female Green Toads collected from Wallace County contained 975 and 1,610 eggs, respectively (Kelly J. Irwin, pers. comm.; Collins, 1993).
Taylor (1929) reported chorusing by this species on 8 August in a small temporary pool in Morton County. Stanley Roth (pers. comm., 1980; Collins, 1993) observed a breeding population of these toads on 17-18 June in Wallace County. Males in this congregation were calling, both at night and during the day, from washout pools with grassy margins in the proximity of several ponds. A single pair of these toads was found in amplexus on land. Within the surrounding canyon system, Roth estimated the number of calling males at 100- 120 individuals. No eggs were found. Burkhart (1984) observed breeding choruses of Green Toads from 26 June to 1 July in Logan County; preferred breeding habitat appeared to be flooded grassy areas adjoining small creeks and arroyos. Taggart (1992) estimated that metamorphosis from egg to emergent toad took less than a week. He observed young toads living in mud cracks on dry pond bottoms where there was more moisture and greater protection from predators.
Most chorusing occurs from late May through late August (Sullivan, 1984; Degenhardt et al., 1996, Taggart (1997). In Kansas, Taylor (1929) reported chorusing on 8 August in Morton County. Taggart (1997) observed chorusing as early as 12 June and as late as 2 September in Wallace and Logan counties.
Breeding aggregations usually only last 2-3 days, however, subsequent significant precipitation events are each likely to trigger successive breeding attempts. Taggart (1997) reported a single clutch of 1,287 non-adhesive eggs laid by a female while in amplexus. The eggs were laid singly and no egg strings (though strings have been reported elsewhere) were observed in the clutch. Twenty-five ova averaged 0.98 mm and another sample of 32 (measured before preservation) averaged 1.15 mm. Eggs are attached to weeds and grass.
The length of the larval stage is uncertain and is dependent upon numerous environmental factors, most notably the water temperature. Strecker (1926) suggested metamorphosis took fewer than 3 weeks. Burkhart (1984) estimated larval life exceeded 25 days in Kansas, while Taggart (1997) observed development from zygote to juvenile in 8 days. Metamorphosis is complete at about 19.05 mm (3/4 inches) snout-vent length.
Newly transformed toadlets often hide in the deep fissures formed in the high clay-content mud of the drying pools (Seymour, 1972; Creusere and Whitford, 1976; Taggart, 1997). Creusere and Whitford (1976) reported that juvenile Chihuahuan Green Toads remained at the hatching site for 55 days, using vegetation as cover and fissures in the soil to avoid desiccation.
Taggart ( 1992) recorded young Green Toads consuming brown ants, small moths, beetles, and small grasshoppers in western Kansas.

Occurrence Activity:
Number of Unique Obervations (=days): 39; Range: 05 May to 09 Sep

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: 92; Range: 05 May to 09 Sep; Interquartile range: 25 Jun to 13 Aug;

Remarks:
The Chihuahuan Green Toad was first reported in Kansas by Cragin, (1894) based on specimens he observed on 4 September 1886 while traveling through Morton County and southern Hamilton County. He also reported subsequently discovering a single specimen in western Barber County, however, Chihuahuan Green Toads do not occur there. The earliest existing specimen is from 1911 (KU 5642).
It was once more widespread in Kansas than recent records indicate. The populations in west-central Kansas were probably continuous with populations to the south and west (excluding the Arkansas River sand prairies) prior to the intensive dry-land farming practices utilized up to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.
Stan Roth (Roth and Collins, 1979) rediscovered (UMMZ 67442 collected in Logan County in 1929 [no other locality]) a disjunct population along the Smoky Hill River in Wallace County, and soon after populations to the east in Logan County (Burkhart, 1984) were reported. Ultimately, Chihuahuan Green Toads were found just to the south of these sites along the Ladder Creek Drainage in Greeley and Wichita counties, Taggart (1997). These northern populations are isolated from other known populations and represent the only extant populations of this taxon in Kansas.
Within the northern populations, the greatest abundance of this species is found on chalk flat prairies, Ogallala outcrops, and associated breaks along the Smoky Hill River drainage in Logan and Wallace counties.
Records from Hamilton, Morton, and Grant counties are in need of verification. The Hamilton County record (Cragin, 1894; Smith, 1934, 1950) may represent a Stanton County observation. Cragin, 1894 reported that "... the species was observed a few days later in great abundance and activity (during rainy weather) in Morton county[sic], Kansas, and in the southern part of Hamilton county[sic]" during 1886. Stanton County was founded in 1887 and that area was part of Hamilton County prior. The records reported from Hamilton County by Taggart, 1997 are in error, as those specimens were actually from Greeley County. Kellogg, 1932, lists a specimen from Greeley County (@ KU; 9 mi. NE of Tribune) and six specimens from Logan County (KSC [Kansas State University] 50-55; no listed locality) that have been lost. Cragin (1884), reported an observation from western Barber County, but no voucher exists and there are no corroborating reports within 225 kilometers (140 miles).
A repatriation effort was initiated by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (Taggart, 1997) to introduce the species back into managed areas of their former range in Kansas. Releases were made in 1991, 1992, and 1993 at several sites in the Cimarron National Grassland. Despite annual surveys at the release sites since 2001, no Chihuahuan Green Toads have been re-discovered.
The nearest extralimital populations of Chihuahuan Green Toads are along the Cimarron River in Oklahoma (~43 kilometers [27 miles] west of Morton County) and along the Arkansas River drainage in Colorado (~101 kilometers [63 miles] west of Hamilton County). Futures surveys for this species in Kansas should include more surveys in Morton, Hamilton, Stanton, Sherman, and Grant counties.
A population genetic analysis comparing the northern populations with those from other parts of its range is currently underway and may yield interesting taxonomic implications and phylogeographic patterns for the isolated extant population in west-central Kansas. That population has been likely isolated by the Arkansas River drainage (sand prairies) for the past 10 million years.
Where the Chihuahuan Green Toad occurs in Kansas, it appears to be thriving and is the most commonly observed Anaxyrus under suitable conditions.
Rundquist (1979) discredited the records from Barber, Hamilton, and Greeley counties known at that time.
Listed as a Kansas Threatened species in 1987. No recovery plan has been completed for this species.
As defined by Kansas Administrative Regulations, critical habitats include those areas documented as currently supporting self-sustaining population(s) of any threatened or endangered species of wildlife as well as those areas determined by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism to be essential for the conservation of any threatened or endangered species of wildlife.
Currently, the following areas are designated critical for Chihuahuan Green Toads:
(1) All native prairie lands and waters within an area encircled by a line beginning on the Logan-Wichita County line at SE corner Sec. 36, T15S, R37W, then extending due north to the Smoky Hill River at Sec. 24, T13S, R37W, then continuing westerly along the Smoky Hill River to the Kansas Highway K-27 crossing at Sec. 27, T13S, R40W, Wallace County, then southerly along Kansas Highway K-27 to the Wallace-Greeley County line at SW corner Sec. 35, T15S, R40W, then due east along the county lines to the point of origin at SE corner Sec. 36, T15S, R37W. This area contains lands and waters in Logan and Wallace counties.
(2) All suitable habitat within the Cimarron National Grasslands in Morton County.
Burkhart (1984) expressed concern over habitat loss through artificially lowered water tables and feedlot pollution. Collins and Collins (1991) did not find this amphibian in Morton County at sites where it was abundant before the drought of the 1930s. They pointed out that it had not been found there since the late 1920s and suggested that it may have been extirpated; a restocking program was initiated in 1992 in that county. Taggart (1992) observed predation on Green Toad tadpoles and young by Plains Garter Snakes.
Based on a captive specimen, Snider and Bowler (1992) reported a maximum longevity for this species of five years and three months.