Arroyo Toad Anaxyrus californicus  (Camp, 1915)

Taxonomic Comments:

Collins, Joseph T. (1991 Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibians and reptiles. Herpetological Review. 22(2): pp. 42-43), using the Evolutionary Species Concept, considered this previously defined and diagnosed allopatric taxon a distinct species, a more conservative arrangement than recognizing it as a race of Bufo microscaphus with which it does not intergrade nor exchange genes. Gergus (1998 Herpetologica 54(3): 317-325) recognized this taxon as a distinct species, as proposed by Collins (1991 Herpetological Review 22: 42-43). Altig et al. (1998. Contemporary Herpetology Information Series No. 2: 1-39) recognized this taxon as a distinct species. Powell, Collins and Hooper (1998. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. vi + 131 pp.) considered californicus a distinct species. Duellman and Sweet (1999 pages 31-109 In Duellman, W. E. (editor), Patterns of Distribution of Amphibians. A Global Perspective. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. viii + 633 pp.) recognized B. californicus as a distinct species, as proposed by Collins (1991 Herpetological Review 22(2): 42-43). Frost, Grant, Faivovich, Bain, Haas, Haddad, De Sá, Channing, Wilkinson, Donnellan, Raxworthy, Campbell, Blotto, Moler, Drewes, Nussbaum, Lynch, Green & Wheeler (2006. The Amphibian Tree of Life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297: 1-370) placed this species in the genus Anaxyrus (Tschudi, 1845). The standard common name remains Arroyo Toad.