Communication Channels: tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Other Communication Modes: choruses
Perception Channels: tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
In their native range cane toads are common, and not considered in need of special conservation efforts. Cane toads are considered one of the world's top 100 most widely-introduced species. Where they have been introduced they are considered pests, and targets of extermination efforts.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
The eggs hatch between forty-eight hours and one week. The tadpoles tend to be small and black and aggregate in dense numbers. Tadpoles metamorphose into small toadlets identical to the adults in forty-five to fifty-five days (Bureau of Rural Sciences 1998).
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis
This toad is considered the most widely-introduced amphibian species in the world. People have tried to use it to control insects such as the greybacked cane beetle, Lepidoderma albohirtum which threatened sugar cane production. However, there is no evidence that it has controlled any pest in Australia and it is now considered a pest species itself in its introduced range of Australia and on Pacific and Caribbean Islands. It preys on and outcompetes native amphibians and also causes predator declines, since these predators have no natural immunity to the bufotoxin it secretes. (Bureau of Rural Sciences 1998, Aguirre and Poss 1999).
Negative Impacts: injures humans (poisonous ); household pest
Rhinella marina forages primarily nocturnally in mature forests and roadways. It feeds on ants, beetles, and earwigs in southern Florida, but has been found with dragonflies, grasshoppers, truebugs, crustaceans, gastropods, plant matter and even dog and cat food in their stomachs (Krakauer 1968).
Animal Foods: insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore , Eats non-insect arthropods)
The natural range of Rhinella marina is from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas south to the Central Amazon and southeastern Peru. This toad has been introduced into the Caribbean Islands, South Florida (Key West and Stock islands, Tampa Bay, Hillsborough, Dade and Broward counties), the Hawaiian islands, and Australia's east coast (East Queensland and Coastal New South Wales). Rhinella marina has been called one of the 100 worst invasive species worldwide by the Invasive Species Specialist Group.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Introduced , Native ); neotropical (Introduced , Native ); australian (Introduced ); oceanic islands (Introduced )
Rhinella marina is a tropical species that prefers forested areas with semi-permanent water nearby (Cogger 1983).
Habitat Regions: tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest
Rhinella marina is a relatively long-lived toad, reaching ages up to ten years (Cogger 1983).
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 10 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Sex: female
Status: captivity: 8.0 years.
Rhinella marina has a grey olive brown dorsal skin with many warts ending in dark brown caps. The ventral skin tends to be a whitish yellow with dark brown speckles or mottles and is granular. Rhinella marina possesses huge paratoid glands stretching from the anterior side of the tympanum to halfway down the back. A high bony ridge meets at the snout between the nostrils. Rhinella marina, like other nocturnal species, has horizontal pupils. Rhinella marina can reach a maximum length of 238 millimeters, although generally is approximately 150 to 175 millimeters.
Range length: 150 to 238 mm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry ; poisonous
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Average mass: 106.25 g.
Average basal metabolic rate: 0.0303 W.
Males congregate in temporary or permanent still or slow moving water and call for mates. More than one male may fertilize the eggs of a single female, and a particularly successful males may fertilize the eggs of multiple females in a breeding season.
Mating System: polygynandrous (promiscuous)
Rhinella marina is able to reproduce nearly year round. The females are able to lay eggs after their second year. Eggs are laid in long jelly-like strings on rocks, debris, or emergent vegetation; in excess of 30,000 eggs at a time. The eggs hatch in 2 to 7 days.
Breeding interval: These toads breed once yearly.
Range number of offspring: 30,000 (high) .
Range time to hatching: 2 to 7 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (External ); oviparous
Once the eggs are fertilized and arrayed in the water, there is no further parental care.
Parental Investment: pre-fertilization (Provisioning)
