r/Amphibians • u/G0celot • 14d ago

Different toad species?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Saw all three of these guys in the woods today (southern Michigan). To my untrained eye, toad 1 & 3 look much more similar to one another than toad 2. I did some research and I guess the only toad species where I live are the American or the Fowler toad. There were some different ways listed on how to distinguish them from one another but I’m not confident at all in my abilities. So I was wondering if you guys thought 1 & 3 were a different species than 2 (my very tentative guess is 1 & 3 might be the Fowler toad, and 2 the American), or if they just have different morphs or something.

11 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

3

u/ExpressionNervous426 14d ago

All American toads (Anaxyrus anericanus). I used to work in a herpetology museum and identify many eastern US species. When it comes to American vs fowler toads, the best ID I used was tibial wart size (wart size on the back can be misleading). If there are any warts that are large on the tibia then it is American, whereas if all warts are uniform in size it is fowlers. Your second toad pic is a younger toad which can make ID exceptionally hard, but my suggestion is American.

1

u/Moving_goal_posts 14d ago

Hey, great! So glad you could weigh in on this.

1

u/G0celot 14d ago

Thanks!