Duttaphrynus melanostictus is commonly called Asian common toad, Asian black-spined toad, Asian toad, black-spectacled toad, common Sunda toad, and Javanese toad. It is probably a complex of more than one true toad species that is widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia.[1]
The species grows to about 20 cm (8 in) long. Asian common toads breed during the monsoon, and their tadpoles are black. Young toads may be seen in large numbers after monsoon rains finish.
The wart patterns of the toads are unique and have been used for individual identification in studies.
The top of the head has several bony ridges, along the edge of the snout (canthal ridge), in front of the eye (preorbital), above the eye (supraorbital), behind the eye (postorbital), and a short one between the eye and ear (orbitotympanic). The snout is short and blunt, and the space between the eyes is broader than the upper eyelid width. The ear drum or tympanum is very distinct and is at least as wide as two-thirds the diameter of the eye. The first finger is often longer than the second and the toes are at least half webbed. A warty tubercle is found just before the junction of the thigh and shank (subarticular tubercle) and two moderate ones are on the shank (metatarsus). No skin fold occurs along the tarsus. The “knee” (tarsometatarsal articulation) reaches the tympanum or the eye when the hind leg is held parallel along the side of the body. The dorsal side is covered with spiny warts. The parotoids are prominent, kidney-shaped, or elliptical and elongated, and secrete milky white Bufotoxin. The dorsal side is yellowish or brownish and the spines and ridges are black. The underside is unmarked or spotted. Males have a subgular vocal sac and black pads on the inner fingers that help in holding the female during copulation.[2]
Ecology and behaviourEdit
Breeding pairs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus.
Asian common toads breed in still and slow-flowing rivers and temporary and permanent ponds and pools. Adults are terrestrial and may be found under ground cover such as rocks, leaf litter, and logs, and are also associated with human habitations. The larvae are found in still and slow-moving waterbodies.[1] They are often seen at night under street lamps, especially when winged termites swarm. They have been noted to feed on a wide range of invertebrates, including scorpions.[3] Tadpoles grown in sibling groups metamorphosed faster than those that were kept in mixed groups.[4] Tadpoles have been shown to be able to recognize kin.[5] The 96h LC50 of commercial grade malathion for the tadpoles is 7.5 mg/L and sublethal levels of exposure can impair swimming.[6]
D. melanostictus arrived in Madagascar in 2011 at the port of Toamasina, and by 2014, was found in a 100 km2 (39 sq mi) zone around that city.[7]
Since its discovery on the east coast, a grave fear has developed that if the Asian toad is not eradicated from Madagascar and stronger quarantines are not developed to prevent reinvasion, it could have comparable impacts to those of cane toads in Australia.[8] Because – like Australia's – Madagascar's native predators have been isolated from bufonids since the Jurassic, they are thought to lack resistance to toad toxins as found in natural varanid[9] and snake predators of D. melanostictus[10][11] in its native range.
One study analyzed the sequences of the Na+/K+-ATPase gene (sodium-potassium pump) in dozens of Malagasy species that may be feeding on D. melanostictus. It was found that all but one out of 77 species failed to show evidence of resistance to the toad toxin, which strongly suggests that these alien toads can significantly impact the native Malagasy animal life and contribute to the worsening biodiversity crisis in the region.[12][13]
Nevertheless, evidence from one Australian species, the bluetongue lizard, Tiliqua scincoides, produces the possibility that some Malagasy animals do possess resistance to bufotenin because almost identical cardiac glycosides are produced by native plants of the genus Bryophyllum.[14]
Wallacea and West PapuaEdit
D. melanostictus was introduced to the Indonesian island of Bali in 1958,[15]Sulawesi in 1974, then subsequently to Ambon, Lombok, Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor and Indonesian New Guinea at Manokwari on the Vogelkop Peninsula. The species is now common at Sentani in far eastern Papua Province.[16][17] The absence of resistance to toad toxins in native snake and varanid predators means that these species could suffer severe declines from the inadvertent spread of the Asian common toad via human traffic,[15] and the currently near threatenedNew Guinea quoll is also almost certain to be further affected in the lower-altitude portion of its range.[18]
An unwanted species in AustraliaEdit
The Asian common toad has been detected in Australia at least four times since 2000.[19][20] The most recent incursion, in 2015, was in suburban Sydney.[20]
The Asian common toad has been described as one of Australia's “10 most unwanted” species, and “potentially more damaging than the cane toad”.[21] It may cause serious ecological problems due to “competition with native species, its potential to spread exotic parasites and pathogens and its toxicity”.[22] Like cane toads, the Asian common toad secretes toxins from glands in their backs to deter predators. These toxins would beyond reasonable doubt severely affect native predators, such as snakes, goannas[23] and quolls.[18]
The recent rate of incursions suggests a high likelihood of establishment in Australia. So, experts are calling for the Australian government to develop a “high-priority contingency plan” that includes stronger environmental quarantine and surveillance strategies.[24][22]
^Boulenger, G. A. (1890). Reptilia and Batrachia. Fauna of British India. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 505–507. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.5490.
^Berry, P. Y.; Bullock, J. A. (1962). "The Food of the Common Malayan Toad, Bufo melanostictus Schneider". Copeia. 1962 (4): 736–741. doi:10.2307/1440674. JSTOR 1440674.
^Saidapur, S. K.; Girish, S. (2001). "Growth and Metamorphosis of Bufo melanostictus Tadpoles: Effects of Kinship and Density". Journal of Herpetology. 35 (2): 249–254. doi:10.2307/1566115. JSTOR 1566115.
^Saidapur, S. K.; Girish, S. (2000). "The Ontogeny of Kin Recognition in Tadpoles of the Toad Bufo melanostictus (Anura; Bufonidae)". Journal of Biosciences. 25 (3): 267–273. doi:10.1007/BF02703935. PMID 11022229. S2CID 4014610.
^David, M.; Kartheek, R. M. (2015-10-01). "Malathion acute toxicity in tadpoles of Duttaphrynus melanostictus, morphological and behavioural study". The Journal of Basic & Applied Zoology. Physiology. 72: 1–7. doi:10.1016/j.jobaz.2015.01.004. ISSN 2090-9896.
^R., Arnaud (2014-04-17). "Invasion de crapauds venimeux à Toamasina: une menace pour l'écosystème malgache". Midi Madagasikara.
^Pearson, Richard G.; ‘Asian common toads in Madagascar: an urgent effort to inform surveys and eradication efforts’; Global Change Biology, 21 (2015), p. 9
^Ujvaria, Beata; Mun, Hee-chang; Conigrave, Arthur D.; Bray, Alessandra; Osterkamp, Jens; Halling, Petter and Madsen, Thomas ‘Isolation breeds naïvety: island living robs Australian varanid lizards of toad-toxin immunity via four-base-pair mutations’; Evolution, vol. 67 (2013) pp. 289–294
^Ujvaria, Beata; Casewell, Nicholas R.; Sunagar, Kartik; Arbuckle. Kevin; Wüster, Wolfgang; Log, Nathan; O’Meally, Denis; Beckmann, Christa; King, Glenn F.; Deplazes, Evelyne and Madsena, Thomas; ‘Widespread convergence in toxin resistance by predictable molecular evolution’; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, volume 112, pp. 11911-11916
^Garcia de Jesus, Erin (October 2, 2020). "This snake rips a hole in living toads' stomachs to feast on their organs". Science News. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
^Marshall, Benjamin Michael; Casewell, Nicholas R.; Vences, Miguel; Glaw, Frank; Andreone, Franco; Rakotoarison, Andolalao; Zancolli, Giulia; Woog, Friederike; Wüster, Wolfgang (June 2018). "Widespread vulnerability of Malagasy predators to the toxins of an introduced toad". Current Biology. 28 (11): R654–R655. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.024. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 29870701.
^See Price-Rees, Samantha J.; Brown, Gregory P. and Shine, Richard; ‘Interacting Impacts of Invasive Plants and Invasive Toads on Native Lizards’, in The American Naturalist vol. 179, No. 3 (March 2012), pp. 413-422
^ abReilly, Sean B.; Wogan, Guinevere O. U.; Stubbs, Alexander L.; Arida, Evy; Iskandar, Djoko T. and McGuire Jimmy A.; ‘ Toxic toad invasion of Wallacea: A biodiversity hotspot characterized by extraordinary endemism’; Global Change Biology; August 2017, pp. 1-3
^Frazier, S. (Dec 15, 2011). "Asian Common Toad". Project Noah. 8077245.
^Frazier, S. (Jun 13, 2011). "Southeast Asian Toad, Asian Common Toad, Spectacled Toad". Project Noah. 6894260.
^ abCovacevich, Jeanette, and Archer, Mike; ‘The distribution of the cane toad, Bufo marinus in Australia and its effects on indigenous vertebrates’; Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, volume 17 (1975), pp. 305–310.
^Henderson W, Bomford M. 2011. Detecting and preventing new incursions of exotic animals in Australia. Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra.
^ abSydney Morning Herald, March 28, 2015, ‘Northern Sydney faces Asian black-spined toad plague’.
^Massam M, Kirkpatrick W and Page A (2010). Assessment and Prioritisation of Risk for Forty Introduced Animal Species. Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra
Further readingEdit
Lu, W.; Qing, N. (2010). "Bufo melanostictus (Asian Common Toad). Record size". Herpetological Review. 41 (1): 61.
External linksEdit
Wikispecies has information related to Duttaphrynus melanostictus.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Duttaphrynus melanostictus.
"Asian toad". Amphibians of Southeast Asia. Ecology Asia.
. Amphibians and Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
H. Bringsøe et al.: Eviscerated alive: Novel and macabre feeding strategy in Oligodon fasciolatus (Günther, 1864) eating organs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Schneider, 1799) in Thailand. In: Herpetozoa. Published online September 11, 2020. doi:10.3897/herpetozoa.33.e57096.
Erin Garcia de Jesus: This snake rips a hole in living toads’ stomachs to feast on their organs, on: ScienceNews, October 2, 2020
October 17, 2023
duttaphrynus, melanostictus, confused, with, asiatic, toad, asian, giant, toad, commonly, called, asian, common, toad, asian, black, spined, toad, asian, toad, black, spectacled, toad, common, sunda, toad, javanese, toad, probably, complex, more, than, true, t. Not to be confused with Asiatic toad or Asian giant toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus is commonly called Asian common toad Asian black spined toad Asian toad black spectacled toad common Sunda toad and Javanese toad It is probably a complex of more than one true toad species that is widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia 1 Duttaphrynus melanostictusConservation statusLeast Concern IUCN 3 1 1 Scientific classificationDomain EukaryotaKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass AmphibiaOrder AnuraFamily BufonidaeGenus DuttaphrynusSpecies D melanostictusBinomial nameDuttaphrynus melanostictus Schneider 1799 SynonymsBufo melanostictusFrom Matheran IndiaThe species grows to about 20 cm 8 in long Asian common toads breed during the monsoon and their tadpoles are black Young toads may be seen in large numbers after monsoon rains finish Contents 1 Characteristics 2 Ecology and behaviour 3 Distribution and habitat 4 Introductions 4 1 Madagascar 4 2 Wallacea and West Papua 4 3 An unwanted species in Australia 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksCharacteristics Edit nbsp The wart patterns of the toads are unique and have been used for individual identification in studies The top of the head has several bony ridges along the edge of the snout canthal ridge in front of the eye preorbital above the eye supraorbital behind the eye postorbital and a short one between the eye and ear orbitotympanic The snout is short and blunt and the space between the eyes is broader than the upper eyelid width The ear drum or tympanum is very distinct and is at least as wide as two thirds the diameter of the eye The first finger is often longer than the second and the toes are at least half webbed A warty tubercle is found just before the junction of the thigh and shank subarticular tubercle and two moderate ones are on the shank metatarsus No skin fold occurs along the tarsus The knee tarsometatarsal articulation reaches the tympanum or the eye when the hind leg is held parallel along the side of the body The dorsal side is covered with spiny warts The parotoids are prominent kidney shaped or elliptical and elongated and secrete milky white Bufotoxin The dorsal side is yellowish or brownish and the spines and ridges are black The underside is unmarked or spotted Males have a subgular vocal sac and black pads on the inner fingers that help in holding the female during copulation 2 Ecology and behaviour Edit source Breeding pairs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus Asian common toads breed in still and slow flowing rivers and temporary and permanent ponds and pools Adults are terrestrial and may be found under ground cover such as rocks leaf litter and logs and are also associated with human habitations The larvae are found in still and slow moving waterbodies 1 They are often seen at night under street lamps especially when winged termites swarm They have been noted to feed on a wide range of invertebrates including scorpions 3 Tadpoles grown in sibling groups metamorphosed faster than those that were kept in mixed groups 4 Tadpoles have been shown to be able to recognize kin 5 The 96h LC50 of commercial grade malathion for the tadpoles is 7 5 mg L and sublethal levels of exposure can impair swimming 6 nbsp Distribution and habitat Edit nbsp Asian common toads occur widely from northern Pakistan through Nepal Bangladesh India including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Sri Lanka Myanmar Thailand Laos Vietnam Cambodia southern China Taiwan Hong Kong and Macau to Malaysia Singapore and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra Java Borneo Anambas and Natuna Islands They have been recorded from sea level up to 1 800 m 5 900 ft altitude and live mostly in disturbed lowland habitats from upper beaches and riverbanks to human dominated agricultural and urban areas They are uncommon in closed forests 1 Introductions EditMadagascar Edit D melanostictus arrived in Madagascar in 2011 at the port of Toamasina and by 2014 was found in a 100 km2 39 sq mi zone around that city 7 Since its discovery on the east coast a grave fear has developed that if the Asian toad is not eradicated from Madagascar and stronger quarantines are not developed to prevent reinvasion it could have comparable impacts to those of cane toads in Australia 8 Because like Australia s Madagascar s native predators have been isolated from bufonids since the Jurassic they are thought to lack resistance to toad toxins as found in natural varanid 9 and snake predators of D melanostictus 10 11 in its native range One study analyzed the sequences of the Na K ATPase gene sodium potassium pump in dozens of Malagasy species that may be feeding on D melanostictus It was found that all but one out of 77 species failed to show evidence of resistance to the toad toxin which strongly suggests that these alien toads can significantly impact the native Malagasy animal life and contribute to the worsening biodiversity crisis in the region 12 13 Nevertheless evidence from one Australian species the bluetongue lizard Tiliqua scincoides produces the possibility that some Malagasy animals do possess resistance to bufotenin because almost identical cardiac glycosides are produced by native plants of the genus Bryophyllum 14 Wallacea and West Papua Edit D melanostictus was introduced to the Indonesian island of Bali in 1958 15 Sulawesi in 1974 then subsequently to Ambon Lombok Sumba Sumbawa Timor and Indonesian New Guinea at Manokwari on the Vogelkop Peninsula The species is now common at Sentani in far eastern Papua Province 16 17 The absence of resistance to toad toxins in native snake and varanid predators means that these species could suffer severe declines from the inadvertent spread of the Asian common toad via human traffic 15 and the currently near threatened New Guinea quoll is also almost certain to be further affected in the lower altitude portion of its range 18 An unwanted species in Australia Edit The Asian common toad has been detected in Australia at least four times since 2000 19 20 The most recent incursion in 2015 was in suburban Sydney 20 The Asian common toad has been described as one of Australia s 10 most unwanted species and potentially more damaging than the cane toad 21 It may cause serious ecological problems due to competition with native species its potential to spread exotic parasites and pathogens and its toxicity 22 Like cane toads the Asian common toad secretes toxins from glands in their backs to deter predators These toxins would beyond reasonable doubt severely affect native predators such as snakes goannas 23 and quolls 18 The recent rate of incursions suggests a high likelihood of establishment in Australia So experts are calling for the Australian government to develop a high priority contingency plan that includes stronger environmental quarantine and surveillance strategies 24 22 References Edit a b c d van Dijk P P et al 2004 Duttaphrynus melanostictus IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004 Boulenger G A 1890 Reptilia and Batrachia Fauna of British India London Taylor and Francis pp 505 507 doi 10 5962 bhl title 5490 Berry P Y Bullock J A 1962 The Food of the Common Malayan Toad Bufo melanostictus Schneider Copeia 1962 4 736 741 doi 10 2307 1440674 JSTOR 1440674 Saidapur S K Girish S 2001 Growth and Metamorphosis of Bufo melanostictus Tadpoles Effects of Kinship and Density Journal of Herpetology 35 2 249 254 doi 10 2307 1566115 JSTOR 1566115 Saidapur S K Girish S 2000 The Ontogeny of Kin Recognition in Tadpoles of the Toad Bufo melanostictus Anura Bufonidae Journal of Biosciences 25 3 267 273 doi 10 1007 BF02703935 PMID 11022229 S2CID 4014610 David M Kartheek R M 2015 10 01 Malathion acute toxicity in tadpoles of Duttaphrynus melanostictus morphological and behavioural study The Journal of Basic amp Applied Zoology Physiology 72 1 7 doi 10 1016 j jobaz 2015 01 004 ISSN 2090 9896 R Arnaud 2014 04 17 Invasion de crapauds venimeux a Toamasina une menace pour l ecosysteme malgache Midi Madagasikara Pearson Richard G Asian common toads in Madagascar an urgent effort to inform surveys and eradication efforts Global Change Biology 21 2015 p 9 Ujvaria Beata Mun Hee chang Conigrave Arthur D Bray Alessandra Osterkamp Jens Halling Petter and Madsen Thomas Isolation breeds naivety island living robs Australian varanid lizards of toad toxin immunity via four base pair mutations Evolution vol 67 2013 pp 289 294 Ujvaria Beata Casewell Nicholas R Sunagar Kartik Arbuckle Kevin Wuster Wolfgang Log Nathan O Meally Denis Beckmann Christa King Glenn F Deplazes Evelyne and Madsena Thomas Widespread convergence in toxin resistance by predictable molecular evolution Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America volume 112 pp 11911 11916 Garcia de Jesus Erin October 2 2020 This snake rips a hole in living toads stomachs to feast on their organs Science News Retrieved 2020 10 13 Marshall Benjamin Michael Casewell Nicholas R Vences Miguel Glaw Frank Andreone Franco Rakotoarison Andolalao Zancolli Giulia Woog Friederike Wuster Wolfgang June 2018 Widespread vulnerability of Malagasy predators to the toxins of an introduced toad Current Biology 28 11 R654 R655 doi 10 1016 j cub 2018 04 024 ISSN 0960 9822 PMID 29870701 Toxic toad invasion puts Madagascar s predators at risk genetic evidence confirms ScienceDaily Retrieved 2018 06 22 See Price Rees Samantha J Brown Gregory P and Shine Richard Interacting Impacts of Invasive Plants and Invasive Toads on Native Lizards in The American Naturalist vol 179 No 3 March 2012 pp 413 422 a b Reilly Sean B Wogan Guinevere O U Stubbs Alexander L Arida Evy Iskandar Djoko T and McGuire Jimmy A Toxic toad invasion of Wallacea A biodiversity hotspot characterized by extraordinary endemism Global Change Biology August 2017 pp 1 3 Frazier S Dec 15 2011 Asian Common Toad Project Noah 8077245 Frazier S Jun 13 2011 Southeast Asian Toad Asian Common Toad Spectacled Toad Project Noah 6894260 a b Covacevich Jeanette and Archer Mike The distribution of the cane toad Bufo marinus in Australia and its effects on indigenous vertebrates Memoirs of the Queensland Museum volume 17 1975 pp 305 310 Henderson W Bomford M 2011 Detecting and preventing new incursions of exotic animals in Australia Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre Canberra a b Sydney Morning Herald March 28 2015 Northern Sydney faces Asian black spined toad plague Page A Kirkpatrick W Massam M 2008 Black spined Toad Bufo melanostictus Risk Assessments for Australia Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia https pestsmart org au wp content uploads sites 3 2020 06 Bufo melanostictus 220410 pdf retrieved 2022 06 03 a b Invasive Species Council 2014 Biosecurity Failures in Australia The Asian Black Spined Toad https invasives org au wp content uploads 2014 09 Biosecurity failures asian black spined toads pdf retrieved 2017 05 28 Department of Environment and Primary Industries 2014 Asian black spined toad Victorian Government http www depi vic gov au agriculture and food pests diseases and weeds pest animals a z of pest animals asian black spine toad retrieved 2017 05 28 Massam M Kirkpatrick W and Page A 2010 Assessment and Prioritisation of Risk for Forty Introduced Animal Species Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre CanberraFurther reading EditLu W Qing N 2010 Bufo melanostictus Asian Common Toad Record size Herpetological Review 41 1 61 External links Edit nbsp Wikispecies has information related to Duttaphrynus melanostictus nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Duttaphrynus melanostictus Asian toad Amphibians of Southeast Asia Ecology Asia Duttaphrynus melanostictus Amphibians and Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia Archived from the original on 2012 02 22 Retrieved 2009 04 30 See also Oligodon fasciolatus for H Bringsoe et al Eviscerated alive Novel and macabre feeding strategy in Oligodon fasciolatus Gunther 1864 eating organs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus Schneider 1799 in Thailand In Herpetozoa Published online September 11 2020 doi 10 3897 herpetozoa 33 e57096 Erin Garcia de Jesus This snake rips a hole in living toads stomachs to feast on their organs on ScienceNews October 2 2020 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Duttaphrynus melanostictus amp oldid 1145704280, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
