Anaxyrus compactilis (Wiegmann, 1833)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Bufonidae > Genus: Anaxyrus > Species: Anaxyrus compactilis

Bufo compactilis Wiegmann, 1833, Isis von Oken, 26: 661. Holotype: ZMB 3528, according to Peters, 1863, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1863: 80. Type locality: "mexicanischen"; restricted to "Xochimilco", Distrito Federal, Mexico, by Smith and Taylor, 1950, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33: 330; restricted to "vicinity of city of Mexico", Mexico, by Schmidt, 1953, Check List N. Am. Amph. Rept., Ed. 6: 62.

Anaxyrus melancholicus Tschudi, 1845, Arch. Naturgesch., 11: 170. Types: Not stated; presumably in the MHNN and presumably animal figured in Pl. 11, fig. 5 of Tschudi, 1846 "1845", Untersuch. Fauna Peruana, Herpetol. Pramuk and Mendelson, 2003, Southwest. Nat., 48: 679, considered MHNN 90.123 to be the holotype. Type locality: "Republica Peruana"; given as "Provinz Yauyos, Departemente Lima, ungefähr 4000 Fuss ü. M., unter einem Steine", Peru by Tschudi, 1846 "1845", Untersuch. Fauna Peruana, Herpetol.: 79. In error according to Pramuk and Mendelson, 2003, Southwest. Nat., 48: 679. Synonymy (with Bufo compactilis) by Peters, 1873, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1873: 624; and Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 302. Smith, 1947, Herpetologica, 4: 7-13, discussed the application of this name and considered it a nomen dubium. Pramuk and Mendelson, 2003, Southwest. Nat., 48: 676, examined the types and reaffirmed synonymy with Bufo compactilis.

Bufo anomalus Jan, 1857, Cenni Mus. Civ. Milano: 54. Type(s): Presumably MSNM, although BMNH museum records have their 1858.9.6.12 (reregistered 1947.2.21.32) as the holotype. Type locality: "Brasile". Restricted to "Xochimilco", Distrito Federal, Mexico, by Smith and Taylor, 1950, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33: 329. Nomen nudum.

Bufo anomalus Günther, 1858, Arch. Naturgesch., 24: 57. Holotype: BMNH 58.9.6.12 according to Kellogg, 1932, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 160: 46. Type locality: "Mexiko". Restricted to "Xochimilco", Distrito Federal, Mexico, by Smith and Taylor, 1950, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 33: 329. Synonymy by Peters, 1863, Monatsber. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1863: 80; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 302.

Bufo levifrons Brocchi, 1877, Bull. Soc. Philomath., Paris, Ser. 7, 1: 187. Holotype: MNHNP 236, according to Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 13; lost, according to Kellogg, 1932, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 160: 46, and Smith and Taylor, 1948, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 194: 40. Type locality: "Mexique". Synonymy by Cope, 1879, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., 18: 264; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 302.

Dromoplectrus anomalus — Camerano, 1879, Atti Accad. Sci. Torino, Cl. Sci. Fis. Mat. Nat., 14: 882.

Bufo compactilis compactilis — Cope, 1889, Bull. U.S. Natl. Mus., 34: 273; Linsdale, 1940, Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci., 73: 206; Smith, 1947, Herpetologica, 4: 7.

Anaxyrus compactilis — Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, de Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green, and Wheeler, 2006, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 297: 363.

Bufo (Anaxyrus) compactilis — Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 290, by implication. See comment under Bufonidae regarding how this arrangement is part of a a system that requires widespread paraphyly. 

Common Names

Plateau Toad (Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 17; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 41; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 7).

Distribution

Widely separated populations: (1) the northern Sierra Madre of western Chihuahua; (2) east and west slopes of the Sierra Madre in southern Durango and adjacent western Zacatecas; (3) south-central Zacatacas and plateau of Jalisco and Aguascalientes east in isolated population to Queretaro, Tlaxcala, and Puebla.

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Mexico

Endemic: Mexico

Comment

In the Bufo cognatus group of Blair, 1972, Evol. Genus Bufo: 349. See comments under Anaxyrus cognatus and Anaxyrus speciosus. The different populations should be examined with respect to the possibility of cryptic species (DRF). Liner, Johnson, and Chaney, 1976, Herpetol. Rev., 7: 177, provided a record for Tlaxcala, Mexico. Cocroft and Ryan, 1995, Animal Behav., 49: 283–303, discussed advertisement call in an evolutionary context. Oliver-López, Woolrich-Piña, and Lemos-Espinal, 2009, Fam. Bufonidae Mex.: 32–34, provided an account for Mexico, although the mapped range into southern Sinaloa and potential range into northern Veracruz is apparently substantially incorrect (DRF). Valdes-Lares, Martín-Muñoz de Cote, and Muñiz-Martínez, 2013, Herpetol. Rev., 44: 646, provided new records for Durango, Mexico. Lemos-Espinal, Smith, and Valdes-Lares, 2019, Amph. Rept. Durango: 47–48, provided a brief account for Durango, Mexico. Tepos-Ramírez, Garduño-Fonseca, Peralta-Robles, García-Rubio, and Cervantes Jiménez, 2023, Check List, 19: 269–292, discussed the distribution, morphology, identification, conservation status, and systematics of the species in Queretaro, Mexico. 

External links:

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.