Description: The Wyoming toad is dark brown, gray or green, with small dark markings on its underside. It carries small, rounded, blotchy warts on its dorsal surface as well as blurry light lines. The male toad has a dark throat. The individual toads can be identified by the variation in their skin colors and wart patterns. The toad can grow up to 2.2 inches in length, and females grow slightly larger than males. It also has sensitive skin that has low adaptability and is prone to permitting infection by chytrid fungus, a strong threat to the Wyoming toad. The toad cannot handle rapid climate change and cannot adapt to differing amounts of water irrigation or diverged irrigation. The toad is mainly active at night and has very poor eyesight; it relies on the movement of its prey to hunt.
Habitat: The Wyoming toad frequents floodplains and the short grass edges of ponds, creeks and lakes. The species frequently uses abandoned pocket gopher and ground squirrel burrows as hibernacula.
Habitat typical characteristics may be seen to vary along the Wyoming toad's age spectrum. Studies at Mortensen Lake in Albany County show that adult Wyoming toads are attracted to habitats with greater vegetation while younger toads are more drawn to areas of lesser vegetation. Adults tend to drift further inland away from shorelines, while younger toads tend to settle closer to the shorelines. Though these habitat variations and substrate conditions varying accordingly, adults are located in areas with slightly cooler temperatures. For the typical adult, substrate surface temperatures were seen to be 68℉ versus 73℉ for younger specimens. Adult Wyoming toads demonstrate very little change in location. The measures of the toad's substrate surface temperature and distance from shorelines tend to be most accurate indicators of possible sightings. When surface temperatures exceed 68℉ and the shoreline is within one to two miles, optimal locating conditions are achieved.
Range: Before this sharp decline in population, the Wyoming toads was commonly found in the floodplains, ponds, shallow lakes and seepage pools within the Laramie Basin located in Albany County, Wyoming.
Diet: Like most toads, Wyoming toads are carnivores. They eat spiders, beetles, ants and other small insects.
Reproduction: There are believed to be 100 Wyoming toads still living in the wild, and as a result, a recovery group was formed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Saratoga National Fish Hatchery in 1998. The goal of this recovery group was to perform captive breeding and reintroduce tadpoles into the wild. However, the captive breeding program has seen low reproductive output because of low ovulation and fertilization rates. Female toads were given a dose of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRHa), which induces spawning in fish, while male toads were treated with human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). IVF technology may also assist in the species' long-term genetic management. Extended "priming" of the Wyoming toad yielded higher fecundity and an increased number of eggs per toad was observed, as well as a greater rate of survival from fertilization to the swim-up stage.
Disclaimer: ITIS taxonomy is based on the latest scientific consensus available, and is provided as a general reference source for interested parties. However, it is not a legal authority for statutory or regulatory purposes. While every effort has been made to provide the most reliable and up-to-date information available, ultimate legal requirements with respect to species are contained in provisions of treaties to which the United States is a party, wildlife statutes, regulations, and any applicable notices that have been published in the Federal Register. For further information on U.S. legal requirements with respect to protected taxa, please contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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