Asian Common Toad

The Asian common toad is a familiar toad of gardens, farmland and towns. It is a mid-sized to large toad with prominent bony ridges on the head, a short, blunt snout, a very distinct eardrum and large, bulging parotoid glands behind the eyes. The warty skin is usually pale yellow-brown boldly streaked and spotted with dark or reddish brown, but can range from plain brick red to almost black; each wart is ringed with dark pigment and tipped with a small spine. It is poisonous if eaten. It is probably a complex of more than one species (Animal Diversity Web; Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives mostly in disturbed lowland habitats, from riverbanks and forest edges to farmland, gardens and towns, and is uncommon in closed forest. It eats mainly insects, especially ants, bees, wasps, beetles and termites, including many crop pests and mosquitoes. Breeding takes place in the monsoon: females lay a very long string of black eggs, up to about 40,000, in temporary pools, and the eggs hatch within one or two days. The tadpoles are black, and young toads may appear in large numbers as the rains end (Animal Diversity Web; Wikipedia, general species account).