The eastern spadefoot, also known as the Syrian spadefoot, is a species of toad that is native to a region that stretches in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It belongs to the family Pelobatidae.
Appearance
The eastern spadefoot is a huge, chubby toad with large, projecting eyes and vertical, slit-like pupils on top of its flat-topped skull. It can expand to around 9 centimeters in length (3.5 in). Small warts can be found here and there but the skin is smooth. Both the front foot and the back foot have five toes each, with deeply indented webbing between them. The animal’s moniker, the inner metatarsal tubercle or spade, is a bony protuberance that projects from the back of each hind foot and is yellowish in colour.
Geographic Range and Habitat
Armenia, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia, Israel, Greece, Lebanon, Romania, Russian Federation, Syria, Turkey and Serbia are the native home countries of the eastern spadefoot. Although it is scarce throughout much of its range, it is extremely prevalent in Iran. It inhabits places with sparse vegetation, dunes, badlands, and semi-desert and bushy habitats. It can be found in rocky places and pebbly clay soils.
Diet
Being nocturnal, the eastern spadefoot returns to the same den each night after finishing its hunt for mollusks, spiders, insects, and other tiny arthropods for food
Reproduction
Depending on latitude, reproduction takes place from February to the middle of May. In still bodies of water, toads reproduce. The male shoulder gland grows more pronounced throughout the reproductive stage. The clutch resembles the P. fuscus clutch in form and has between 5500 and 6500 eggs. Summer or fall mark the end of the metamorphosis process. Numerous toadlings burrow on the pond’s edge. Tadpoles overwinter in some bodies of water and finish their transformation the following year. Tadpoles mostly eat algae and plant matter. Adults eat creatures that live on the surface of the land, such as Mollusca, Myriapoda, Araneae, and Orthoptera.
Table
