List of Texas amphibians
Encyclopedia
This is a list of Texas amphibians, all frog
s, toad
s, and salamander
s native to the state of Texas
.
The state of Texas has a large variety of habitats
, from swamp
s, pine forest
s in the east, rocky hills and limestone
karst
in the center, desert
in the south and west, mountains in the far west, and grassland
prairie
in the north. This vast contrast in biome
s makes Texas home to a wide variety of herpetofauna
. Its central position in the United States
means that species found primarily in either the western or eastern reaches of the country often have their ranges meeting in the state. Its proximity to Mexico
is such that many species found there and into Central American also range as far north as Texas. Also, the karst topography of central Texas is home to several endemic
species. The abundance of amphibians makes the state a prime area for research, and most species in the state are well documented.
Texas state law protects several amphibian species; threatened species
denoted as (T) and endangered species
denoted as (E).
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(Tropical Frogs)
(Narrowmouth Toads)
(Spadefoot Toads)
(Newts)
Family Plethodontidae
(Lungless Salamanders)
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s, toad
Toad
A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...
s, and salamander
Salamander
Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
s native to the state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
.
The state of Texas has a large variety of habitats
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
, from swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
s, pine forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s in the east, rocky hills and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
in the center, desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
in the south and west, mountains in the far west, and grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
in the north. This vast contrast in biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
s makes Texas home to a wide variety of herpetofauna
Herpetology
Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...
. Its central position in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
means that species found primarily in either the western or eastern reaches of the country often have their ranges meeting in the state. Its proximity to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
is such that many species found there and into Central American also range as far north as Texas. Also, the karst topography of central Texas is home to several endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
species. The abundance of amphibians makes the state a prime area for research, and most species in the state are well documented.
Texas state law protects several amphibian species; threatened species
Threatened species
Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
denoted as (T) and endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
denoted as (E).
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True toads
Family Bufonidae (True Toads)- Genus BufoBufoBufo is a large genus of about 150 species of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. Bufo is a Latin word for toad.- Description :...
(Toads)- Bufo americanus (American Toad)
- Bufo cognatusBufo cognatusThe Great Plains Toad is a relatively large species of toad. It ranges from southern Alberta, throughout the midwest United States and the inland western United States into northern Mexico....
(Great Plains Toad) - Bufo debilisBufo debilisAnaxyrus debilis, also classified as Bufo debilis, is a species of toad found in the Southwestern United States in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Texas, as well as in northern Mexico in the states of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Durango and Zacatecas...
(Green Toad) - Bufo houstonensis (Houston Toad) (E)
- Bufo marinus (Giant or Cane Toad)
- Bufo punctatusBufo punctatusThe Red-spotted toad is a small toad species growing to 3.7 to 7.5 centimeters in length. It has a flattened head and body, and a light grey, olive or reddish brown dorsum with reddish or orange skin glands. It has a whitish or buff venter with or without faint dark spotting, and round parotoid...
(Red-spotted Toad) - Bufo speciosusBufo speciosusThe Texas Toad is a species of small toad native to the United States, primarily in the state of Texas, but it ranges north into Oklahoma, west into New Mexico and south into Mexico....
(Texas Toad) - Bufo vallicepsBufo vallicepsThe Gulf Coast Toad is a species of toad native to the southern United States , Mexico, and Central America as far south as Costa Rica.- Description :...
(Gulf Coast Toad) - Bufo woodhousiiBufo woodhousiiThe Woodhouse's Toad, is a medium-sized true toad, which is native to the United States and Mexico. There are two recognized subspecies. The epithet woodhousii is in honor of the American physician and naturalist Samuel Washington Woodhouse. B...
(Woodhouse's Toad)
Tree frogs
Family Hylidae (Treefrogs)- Genus Acris (Cricket Frogs)
- Acris crepitansAcris crepitansThe Northern Cricket Frog is a species of small Hylid frog native to the United States and northeastern Mexico. Despite being members of the tree frog family, they are not arboreal...
(Northern Cricket Frog)
- Acris crepitans
- Genus HylaHylaThe genus Hyla is one of approximately 38 genera in the New World family of tree frogs . The word Hyla translates to "tree," and tree frogs are indeed arboreal...
(Treefrogs)- Hyla arenicolorHyla arenicolorThe Canyon Tree Frog is a species of tree frog native to the rocky plateau areas of southern United States, primarily in the states of New Mexico and Arizona, but it also ranges to neighboring states of Utah, Texas and Colorado, and as far south as the Mexican states of Michoacán, México,...
(Canyon Tree Frog) - Hyla chrysoscelisHyla chrysoscelisThe Cope's Grey Tree Frog is a species of tree frog which is found in the United States. It is almost indistinguishable from the Grey Tree Frog, Hyla versicolor, and shares much of its geographic range. Both species are variable in color, mottled gray to gray-green, resembling the bark of trees...
(Cope's Gray Tree Frog) - Hyla cinerea (Green Tree Frog)
- Hyla squirellaHyla squirellaThe Squirrel Treefrog is a small species of tree frog found in the southeastern United States, from Texas to Virginia.- Description :...
(Squirrel Tree Frog) - Hyla versicolor (Gray Tree Frog)
- Hyla arenicolor
- Genus Pseudacris (Chorus Frogs)
- Pseudacris clarkii (Spotted Chorus Frog)
- Pseudacris crucifer (Spring Peeper)
- Pseudacris streckeri (Strecker's Chorus Frog)
- Pseudacris feriarum (Upland Chorus Frog)
- Genus Smilisca
- Smilisca baudiniiSmilisca baudiniiSmilisca baudinii is a nocturnal species of tree frog whose native range extends from the Sonoran Desert and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas south to Costa Rica. Common names include Mexican Tree Frog, Baudin's Tree Frog and Van Vliet’s Frog...
(Mexican Tree Frog) (T)
- Smilisca baudinii
Tropical frogs
Family LeptodactylidaeLeptodactylidae
Leptodactylidae is a diverse family of frogs that probably diverged from other hyloids during the Cenozoic era, or possibly at the end of the Mesozoic. There are roughly 50 genera, one of which is Eleutherodactylus, the largest vertebrate genus, with over 700 species...
(Tropical Frogs)
- Genus EleutherodactylusEleutherodactylusEleutherodactylus is a genus of frogs in the Leptodactylidae family. It is typically described as the largest vertebrate genus on Earth, with over 700 species...
(Chirping Frogs)- Eleutherodactylus augustiEleutherodactylus augustiThe Eastern Barking Frog is a small Leptodactylid frog found in the southern United States in the states of Texas and New Mexico, with disjunct populations in Arizona and northwestern Mexico. It is called the barking frog because its call sounds like the barking of a small dog...
(Eastern Barking Frog) - Eleutherodactylus cystignathoidesEleutherodactylus cystignathoidesThe Rio Grande Chirping Frog or Mexican Chirping Frog is a small Leptodactylid frog found from the southern United States in scattered locales in the state of Texas, and south into the Mexican states of Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, and Veracruz. It is a terrestrial frog, that lays its...
(Rio Grande Chirping Frog) - Eleutherodactylus guttilatusEleutherodactylus guttilatusThe Spotted Chirping Frog is a species of small Leptodactylid frog native to the United States and Mexico. They are found in moderate elevation ranges of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range, from the Davis Mountains in west Texas south to the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis...
(Spotted Chirping Frog) - Eleutherodactylus marnockiiEleutherodactylus marnockiiThe Cliff Chirping Frog is a small Leptodactylid frog found in the United States, in central and western Texas.-Description:...
(Cliff Chirping Frog)
- Eleutherodactylus augusti
- Genus LeptodactylusLeptodactylusLeptodactylus is a genus of leptodactylid frogs. It includes the species commonly called ditch frogs. It is very similar to Physalaemus, a close relative, and indeed the recently-rescribed Leptodactylus lauramiriamae is in some aspects intermediate between them.-Selected species:-References: :...
(Neotropical Grass Frogs)- Leptodactylus fragilisLeptodactylus fragilisThe Mexican White-lipped Frog is a species of Leptodactylid frog which ranges from Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States south through Mexico and Central America to Colombia and Venezuela.- Description :...
(Mexican White-lipped Frog) (T)
- Leptodactylus fragilis
Narrowmouth toads
Family MicrohylidaeMicrohylidae
Microhylidae is a geographically widespread family of frogs. There are 413 species in 69 genera and nine subfamilies, which is the largest number of genera of any frog family.-Description:...
(Narrowmouth Toads)
- Genus GastrophryneGastrophryneGastrophryne, the narrow-mouthed toads, is a genus of microhylid frogs.-Species:* Gastrophryne carolinensis .* Gastrophryne elegans .* Gastrophryne olivacea ....
(Narrowmouth Toads)- Gastrophryne carolinensisGastrophryne carolinensisThe Eastern Narrowmouth Toad is a species of microhylid frog. It is a relatively small, toad-like amphibian found in damp, shady habitats. The species is highly fossorial, and feeds primarily on ants...
(Eastern Narrowmouth Toad) - Gastrophryne olivaceaGastrophryne olivaceaThe Great Plains Narrowmouth Toad is a species of microhylid frog. They are found throughout much of the south central United States from the state of Nebraska south through Texas, and into northern Mexico...
(Great Plains Narrowmouth Toad)
- Gastrophryne carolinensis
- Genus HypopachusHypopachusHypopachus is a genus of microhylid frogs.-Species:*Hypopachus barberi – Barber's sheep frog*Hypopachus variolosus – sheep frog...
(Sheep Frogs)- Hypopachus variolosus (Sheep Frog) (T)
Spadefoot toads
Family PelobatidaePelobatidae
The European spadefoot toads are a family of frogs, the Pelobatidae, with only one extant genus Pelobates, containing four species. They are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa and western Asia....
(Spadefoot Toads)
- Genus ScaphiopusScaphiopusScaphiopus is a genus of North American amphibian commonly referred to as the Southern Spadefoot Toads. They differ greatly from true toads by having eyes with vertical pupils, no parotoid gland, and relatively smooth skin. Their most distinctive feature is a spade-like projection on their hind...
(Spadefoot Toads)- Scaphiopus couchiiScaphiopus couchiiCouch's Spadefoot Toad is a species of North American spadefoot toad. The epithet couchii is in honor of American naturalist Darius Nash Couch, who collected the first specimen while on a personal expedition to northern Mexico to collect plant, mineral and animal specimens for the Smithsonian...
(Couch's Spadefoot Toad) - Scaphiopus hurteriiScaphiopus hurteriiHurter's Spadefoot Toad is a species of spadefoot toad found in the south central United States and northern Mexico. It was once classified as a subspecies of the eastern spadefoot toad, but it has been granted its own species status...
(Hurter's Spadefoot Toad)
- Scaphiopus couchii
- Genus SpeaSpeaSpea is a genus of North American amphibian commonly referred to as the Western Spadefoot Toads. They differ greatly from true toads by having eyes with vertical pupils, no parotoid gland, and relatively smooth skin. Their most distinctive feature is a spade-like projection on their hind feet,...
(Spadefoot Toads)- Spea bombifronsSpea bombifronsThe Plains Spadefoot Toad is a species of spadefoot toad which ranges from southwestern Canada, throughout the Great Plains of the western United States, and into northern Mexico...
(Plains Spadefoot Toad) - Spea multiplicataSpea multiplicataThe New Mexico Spadefoot Toad is a species of American spadefoot toad found in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Like other species of spadefoot toad, they get their name from a distinctive spade-like projections on their hind legs which enable them to dig in sandy soils...
(New Mexico Spadefoot Toad)
- Spea bombifrons
True frogs
Family Ranidae (True Frogs)- Genus RanaRana (genus)Rana is a genus of frogs. Species include such archetypal pond frogs as the common frog of Europe, brown frogs, and the New and Old World true frogs, including the various species of leopard frogs and the American bullfrog. Members of this genus are found through much of Eurasia, North America,...
(True Frogs)- Rana areolata (Crawfish Frog)
- Rana berlandieri (Rio Grande Leopard Frog)
- Rana blairi (Plains Leopard Frog)
- Rana catesbeiana (Bullfrog)
- Rana clamitans clamitans (Bronze Frog)
- Rana grylio (Pig Frog)
- Rana palustris (Pickerel Frog)
- Rana sphenocephala (Southern Leopard Frog)
Burrowing toads
Family Rhinophrynidae- Genus Rhinophrynus
- Rhinophrynus dorsalis (Mexican Burrowing Toad) (T)
Amphiumas
Family Amphiumidae (Amphiumas)- Genus AmphiumaAmphiumaAmphiuma is a genus of aquatic salamanders, the only extant genus within the family Amphiumidae . They are also known to fishermen as "conger eels" or "congo snakes", which are zoologically incorrect designations...
- Amphiuma tridactylumAmphiuma tridactylumThe Three-toed Amphiuma is a species of aquatic salamander native to the southeastern United States.- Description :...
(Three-toed Amphiuma)
- Amphiuma tridactylum
Newts
Family SalamandridaeSalamandridae
Salamandridae is a family of salamanders consisting of true salamanders and newts. Currently, 74 species have been identified in the northern hemisphere - Europe, Asia, the northern tip of Africa and North America...
(Newts)
- Genus NotophthalmusNotophthalmusNotophthalmus is a genus of newts known commonly as North American newts. There are three species.- Species :*Black-Spotted Newt, Notophthalmus meridionalis *Striped Newt, Notophthalmus perstriatus...
- Notophthalmus meridionalisNotophthalmus meridionalisNotophthalmus meridionalis, commonly known as the Black-spotted Newt or Texas Newt, is a species of aquatic newt native to northeastern Mexico and southern Texas in the United States.- Description :...
(Black-spotted Newt) (T) - Notophthalmus viridescens (Eastern Newt)
- Notophthalmus meridionalis
Salamanders
Family Ambystomatidae (Mole Salamanders)- Genus Ambystoma
- Ambystoma maculatum (Spotted Salamander)
- Ambystoma mavortiumAmbystoma mavortiumAmbystoma mavortium, commonly known as the Barred Tiger Salamander, is a species of salamander found from southwestern Canada in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, south through the western United States to Texas and northern Mexico.- Description :The tiger salamander is the...
(Barred Tiger Salamander) - Ambystoma opacum (Marbled Salamander)
- Ambystoma talpoideumAmbystoma talpoideumdiet:The Mole Salamander is a species of salamander found in much of the eastern and central United States, from Florida to Texas, north to Illinois, east to Kentucky, with an isolated population in Virginia...
(Mole Salamander) - Ambystoma texanumAmbystoma texanumThe Smallmouth Salamander is a species of salamander found in the central United States, from the Great Lakes region in Michigan to Nebraska, south to Texas, and east to Tennessee, with a population in Canada, in Pelee, Ontario. It is sometimes referred to as the Texas Salamander, Porphyry...
(Smallmouth Salamander) - Ambystoma tigrinum (Eastern Tiger Salamander)
Family Plethodontidae
Lungless salamander
The Plethodontidae, or Lungless salamanders, are a family of salamanders. Most species are native to the western hemisphere, from British Columbia to Brazil, although a few species are found in Sardinia, Europe south of the Alps, and South Korea...
(Lungless Salamanders)
- Genus DesmognathusDesmognathusDesmognathus is a genus of lungless salamanders known as dusky salamanders, ranging from Eastern USA to Southeastern Canada.-Species:This genus includes the following 21 species:...
(Dusky Salamanders)- Desmognathus auriculatusDesmognathus auriculatusThe Southern Dusky Salamander is a species of salamander native to the coastal regions of the southeastern United States, from Virginia to Texas. Older sources often refer to it as the Eared Triton.- Description :...
(Southern Dusky Salamander)
- Desmognathus auriculatus
- Genus EuryceaEuryceaEurycea is a genus of salamanders, native to North America. These salamanders are commonly referred to as brook salamanders.- Taxonomy :...
(Brook Salamanders)- Eurycea latitansEurycea latitansThe Cascade Caverns Salamander or Cascade Caverns Neotenic Salamander is a species of aquatic salamander endemic to Cascade Caverns in Kendall County, Texas, USA...
(Cascade Caverns Salamander) (T) - Eurycea nanaEurycea nanaThe San Marcos Salamander is a small species of aquatic, lungless salamander native to the United States. Endemic to Spring Lake and a small region of the headwaters of the San Marcos River near Aquarena Springs, in Hays County, Texas...
(San Marcos Salamander) (T) - Eurycea neotenesEurycea neotenesEurycea neotenes is a species of entirely aquatic, lungless salamander native to the United States. It is endemic to central Texas, near Helotes, in Bexar County.- Description :...
(Texas Salamander) - Eurycea quadridigitataEurycea quadridigitataThe Dwarf Salamander is a species of salamander native to the southern United States, from North Carolina to Oklahoma, south to Texas along the Gulf of Mexico states to northern Florida...
(Dwarf Salamander) - Eurycea rathbuni (Texas Blind Salamander) (E)
- Eurycea robustaEurycea robustaThe Blanco Blind Salamander is a species of aquatic, lungless salamander native to the United States. It is endemic to a small region of the Blanco River near San Marcos in Hays County, Texas. Its habitat, deep in limestone karst, makes collecting specimens for research particularly problematic...
(Blanco Blind Salamander) (T) - Eurycea sosorum (Barton Springs Salamander) (E)
- Eurycea tridentiferaEurycea tridentiferaThe Comal Blind Salamander or Honey Creek Cave Blind Salamander is a small species of aquatic, lungless salamander native to the United States. It is endemic to a small region at the junction of Comal, Bexar and Kendall counties in Texas...
(Comal Blind Salamander) (T) - Eurycea troglodytesEurycea troglodytesThe Valdina Farms Salamander is a species of aquatic salamander described from Valdina Farms Sinkhole in Medina County, Texas, USA. It is sometimes referred to as the Valdina Blind Salamander or Sinkhole Salamander...
(Valdina Farms Salamander)
- Eurycea latitans
- Genus Plethodon
- Plethodon glutinosusPlethodon glutinosusThe Northern Slimy Salamander is a species of terrestrial plethodontid salamander found through much of the eastern two thirds of the United States, from New York, west to Illinois, south to Texas, and east to Florida, with an isolated population in southern New Hampshire...
(Slimy Salamander) - Plethodon albagulaPlethodon albagulaThe Western Slimy Salamander is a species of salamander found in two disjunct populations in the United States, one from Missouri to Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and another in south-central Texas...
(Western Slimy Salamander) - Plethodon serratusPlethodon serratusThe Southern Redback Salamander is a species of salamander native to the United States. It is found in four widely disjunct populations. One in central Louisiana; one in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma; one in central Missouri; and one from southeastern Tennessee, to southwestern...
(Southern Redback Salamander)
- Plethodon glutinosus
Sirens
Family Sirenidae (Sirens)- Genus SirenSiren (genus)Siren is a genus of aquatic salamanders of the family Sirenidae. The genus consists of two living species, along with one extinct species from the Eocene Epoch and three from the Miocene...
- Siren intermedia nettingi (Western Lesser Siren)
- Siren intermedia texana (Rio Grande Lesser Siren) (T)
Waterdogs
Family Proteidae (Waterdogs)- Genus NecturusNecturusNecturus is a genus of aquatic salamander only found in the eastern United States. They are commonly known as Waterdogs and Mudpuppies...
- Necturus beyeriNecturus beyeriThe Gulf Coast Waterdog, Speckled Waterdog or Beyer’s Waterdog is a species of aquatic salamander native to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas in the United States.-Description:...
(Gulf Coast Waterdog)
- Necturus beyeri