This small toad apparently is restricted to the Pacific lowlands from
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec eastward to Guatemala. At Zanatepec on July
13, 1956, males were calling from a flooded field bordered by scrub
forest. The call is a rather loud nasal racket. Living individuals vary
greatly in coloration. Some have yellowish tan flanks and dorsum and an
orange middorsal stripe; others have a pale red dorsum, yellow flanks,
and a cream middorsal stripe (Pl. 6, fig. 2).
=Bufo coccifer= Cope
_Oaxaca_: Juchitan (5); Tehuantepec.
It is with some degree of hesitancy that these toads are referred to
the species _coccifer_. Although these and other specimens from
Guerrero and Michoacan display no striking differences from specimens
from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and southeastern Guatemala, the ranges of
the populations are separated by a broad hiatus in Chiapas and
Guatemala. Possibly this species has utilized the sub-humid corridor
through northern Central America (Stuart, 1954) and subsequently
disappeared from the corridor in Guatemala and Chiapas. Specimens of a
_coccifer_-like toad collected by Stuart in the vicinity of
Jacaltenango, Departamento Huehuetenango, Guatemala, are much larger
than either the Central American or Mexican specimens of _coccifer_. A
final commitment on the systematic status must await a thorough study
of this group of toads.
Males of this species were calling from a grassy rain-pool in open
scrub forest at the edge of Juchitan on July 6, 1956. The call is a
low "whirrr." The calling males were sitting in the shallow water at
the edge of pond, where they were hidden by the grass. None was
observed in open water, as is characteristic of calling males of _Bufo
canaliferus_ and _marmoreus_.
=Bufo marinus= Linnaeus
_Oaxaca_: Agua Caliente; Guichicovi (3); Mixtequilla;
Tolosita (6); Tehuantepec (37); Tuxtepec; Union Hidalgo.
_Veracruz_: Ciudad Aleman (4); Cosamaloapan; Cuatotolapam
(19); 20 km. SE of Jesus Carranza (4); 38 km. SE of Jesus
Carranza (10); 20 km. NE of Jesus Carranza (4); Novillero.
This large toad is abundant throughout the lowlands of the isthmus. The
loud rattling call of males was heard on rainy nights throughout the
summer. In March, 1956, several adults were found in a small cave back
of a spring at Agua Caliente.
=Bufo marmoreus= Wiegmann
_Oaxaca_: Cerro San Pedro (2); Chivela (5); Escurano (3);
Juchitan; Salina Cruz (101); Santa Lucia (2); 12 km. S of
Santiago Chivela (11); Santo Domingo; Tapanatepec;
Tehuantepec (100); Tequisistlan. _Veracruz_: Alvarado;
Coatzacoalcos.
This toad is abundant on the Pacific lowlands, where it inhabits both
open and dense scrub forest. On the Gulf lowlands its distribution
seems to be limited to xeric coastal habitats. Aside from the specimens
from Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos, it is known in Veracruz only from Boca
del Rio (Langebartel and Smith, 1959:27).
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