23 Types of Toads From Around The World

Amphibians have been evolving for nearly 400 million years, the first ever discovered fossil of theirs dating back 368 million years during the late-Devonian period.

Since then, they have evolved into about 8,600 different species and subspecies currently recognized by science, with more and more new species discovered each and every year.

Over 6,000 of them belong to the frog family, with over 300 types of toads, some of which we’ll be learning about in today’s piece. There are also over 600 species of known salamanders.

Many people confuse frogs for toads and vice versa, and it’s easy to see why given their striking resemblances. Toads are a species of frog, but frogs are not toads, much like the difference between turtles and tortoises.

Toads are mostly land-dwellers, while frogs either live in the water or up in trees and bushes. For a better, more elaborate understanding, be sure to check out our piece on the difference between frogs and toads.

Like frogs, female toads are more often than not larger than males, and this has become a very common evolutionary trait for creatures that reproduce by laying eggs.

Females need that extra size and girth to carry young inside of them, with most types of toads and frogs laying thousands of eggs at a time.

We’ve got 23 different types of toads to go over in today’s list, as well as three honorable mentions that have toad in their name, though in reality, they’re actually frogs.

Types of Toads From Around the Globe

1. American Toad

There are three subspecies of American toads: the common American toad, Eastern American toad, and the dwarf American toad.

These types of toads prefer climates that are plentiful in insects and moisture, often times found in parks, yards, farmlands, prairies, mountain areas, and forests.

American toads breed just once yearly, choosing months between March and July, depending on their location and genus.

• Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Americanus
• Size: 2-to-3.5 inches (50-90mm)
• Lifespan: 1-to-3 years average, possibly up to 10
• Female Egg Clutches: 4,000-12,000
• Range: As far north as Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, as far west as Kansas the Dakota’s, and Texas, as far south as Florida

2. Great Plains Toad

The breeding season of these types of toads occurs in the months of April, May, June, and July, when females prefer to lay their eggs in flooded fields along the Missouri River floodplain.

These burrow-digging toads are found in open grasslands and farm fields of the areas listed below.

• Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Cognatus
• Size: 3.5-to-4.5 inches
• Lifespan: Up to 11 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 20,000
• Range: As far west as California, as far south as Texas, as far east as Minnesota, and north of the United States into southeastern Alberta, Canada

3. Green Toad

Green toads breed from late-March to July during heavy rainfall seasons, and can be found in arid and semi-arid lands of the areas listed below.

• Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Debilis
• Size: 1.5-to-2.2 inches
• Lifespan: 7-to-10 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 9,000-15,000
• Range: Midwestern United States into parts of Mexico

4. Black Toad

Black toads live in watercourses, ditches, and marshes of California.

There is reason for concern regarding these types of toads, as while it is abundant in its natural habitat, their range is very limited. The black toads breeding season occurs in spring from March to April.

• Scientific Name: Bufo Exsul
• Size: Up to 2 inches
• Lifespan: Unknown
• Female Egg Clutches: 400-to-1,300
• Range: Endemic to Deep Springs Valley in California

5. Amargosa Toad

These types of toads reach sexual maturity at two-to-three years of age, with their breeding season spanning from February to July.

• Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Nelsoni
• Size: 3-to-5 inches
• Lifespan: 9-to-12 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 6,000
• Range: Oasis Valley of the Amargosa River, Great Basin and Mojave Desert

6. Red-Spotted Toad

This species of toad breeds in the spring months from March to June.

Red-spotted toads have a poison in their skin that, though isn’t harmful to humans, can cause yard animals such as dogs and cats to froth or foam at the mouth when they bother or try to eat them.

• Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Punctatus
• Size: Up to 3 inches
• Lifespan: 10-to-12 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 5,000
• Range: Southern Nevada to southwestern Kansas, as far south as Hidalgo and Mexico, and throughout Baja, California

7. Oak Toad

These tiny types of toads are found in the eastern and south-eastern United States, with their breeding season spanning from April to August.

• Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Quercicus
• Size: Up to 1.75 inches, smallest toads in North America
• Lifespan: 1.5-to-4 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 300-to-700
• Range: Coastal Plains of southeast Virginia, west to Louisiana, south to Florida, found throughout the entirety of the state with the exception of the southern Keys

8. Sonoran Green Toad

These types of toads breed in July and August, and while their clutch size is unknown, it is believed that they could lay up to thousands of eggs at a time, much like their cousins, the next mention on this list, the Sonoran desert toad.

• Scientific Name: Bufo Retiformis
• Size: 1.5-to-2.5 inches
• Lifespan: 10-to-20 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Unknown, perhaps thousands
• Range: Sonoran Desert region, from south-central Arizona to west-central Sonora

9. Sonoran Desert Toad

Also known as the Colorado River toad, these types of toads add another month to their respective breeding season than our previous mention, breeding from May to July, mainly during the spring and summer rains.

• Scientific Name: Bufo Alvarius
• Size: 4-to-7.5 inches
• Lifespan: 10-to-20 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 8,000
• Range: Central Arizona to southwestern New Mexico and Sinaloa, Mexico

10. Dixie Valley Toad

Though their egg clutch sizes are unfortunately unknown, Dixie Valley toads breed from March to June each year, preferring spring months to find a mate.

• Scientific Name: Anaxyrus Williamsi
• Size: 1.7-to-2.7 inches
• Lifespan: Unknown
• Female Egg Clutches: Unknown
• Range: Dixie Valley Playa in Churchill County, Nevada

11. Common Indian Toad

Also known as the Asian common toad, common Indian toads breed throughout the year during the rainy months of its climate.

• Scientific Name: Duttaphrynus Melanostictus
• Size: Up to 7-8 inches, second-biggest toad in the world
• Lifespan: 4-to-5 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 40,000
• Range: Northern Pakistan through Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, southern China, and Taiwan

12. European Green Toad

These incredible types of toads will change color in response to heat and light changes. European green toads have one of the widest ranges of breeding season on this list, spanning from February to July, depending on their exact location.

• Scientific Name: Bufotes Viridis
• Size: 3-to-4.7 inches
• Lifespan: 7-to-10 years average, up to 14 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 9,000-15,000
• Range: Eastern France and Denmark to the Balkans and western Russia

13. American Spadefoot Toad

American spadefoot toads also have one of the widest breeding seasons on this list, ranging anywhere from March to October, depending on the timing of heavy rains in their respective areas.

• Scientific Name: Scaphiopodidae
• Size: 2-to-3 inches
• Lifespan: 3-to-9 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 300-to-1,000
• Range: East Coast of the United States from New England to Florida

14. African Giant Toad

Also known as the Congo toad or Cameroon toad, these beautiful types of toads breed from January to March. Little is known about the reproduction of these toads, though it is believed that they choose to breed during dry seasons, unlike others on this list.

• Scientific Name: Amietophrynus Superciliaris
• Size: 4.3-to-6 inches
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Unknown
• Range: Tropical Central and West Africa

15. Slender Toad

These types of toads prefer subtropical and tropical wetland forests, as well as moist montane forests and rivers of the areas listed below.

The breeding season of slender toads occurs from April through September.

• Scientific Name: Ansonia Spinulifer
• Size: 1.2-to-1.8 inches
• Lifespan: Unknown
• Female Egg Clutches: Unknown
• Range: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia,

16. Yellow Toad

It is believed that the common yellow toad breeds from November to May during the dry season.

• Scientific Name: Incilius Luetkenii
• Size: 2.6-to-4.2 inches
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 2,000
• Range: Central Costa Rica to Southern Chiapas, Mexico, as well as dry interior valleys of Guatemala and Honduras

17. Gulf Coast Toad

Like most types of toads on our list, the Gulf Coast toad breeds during the rainy seasons between March and September.

• Scientific Name: Incilius Valliceps
• Size: 2-to-4 inches
• Lifespan: 3-to-5 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 20,000
• Range: South-Eastern Mississippi through east and central Texas and into Mexico

18. Natterjack Toad

Adult natterjack toads emerge from hibernation in March or April, with their breeding season spanning from April to July.

• Scientific Name: Epidalea Calamita
• Size: 2.3-to-3.1 inches
• Lifespan: 10-to-20 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Up to 7,500
• Range: Britain and southwest Ireland

19. African Tree Toad

African tree toads breed during the spring, though it is difficult to tell whether or not their breeding season extends past that, as they can often times be found in water bodies outside of their breeding season.

• Scientific Name: Nectophryne Afra
• Size: 1-to-1.5 inches
• Lifespan: 3-to-5 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 100-to-200
• Range: West and Central Africa

20. Beaked Toad

Reproduction of these types of toads often occurs between March and May in temporary bodies of water.

• Scientific Name: Rhinella Proboscidea
• Size: Up to 2.2 inches
• Lifespan: 10-15 years average, one specimen reportedly lived 35 years in captivity
• Female Egg Clutches: Thousands, exact range unknown
• Range: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru

21. Forest Crested Toad

These dinosaur-lookalike types of toads prefer tropical and subtropical moist lowland forests, rivers, plantations, rural gardens, and degraded forests, with their breeding season taking place in all months short of March, to our surprise.

• Scientific Name: Ingerophrynus Biporcatus
• Size: 2-to-4 inches
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Unknown
• Range: Endemic to Indonesia

22. Cane Toad

The biggest toad in the world award goes to the Cane toad. Surprisingly, their breeding season occurs year-round, with much of the mating taking place during the rainy months.

• Scientific Name: Rhinella Marina
• Size: 4-to-7 inches, sometimes up to 9 inches, biggest toads in the world
• Lifespan: 10-to-15 years, though it is believed they could possibly live up to 40 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 8,000-to-25,000
• Range: Southern Texas to the Amazon Basin in South America

23. Pope’s Spiny Toad

Also known as the Chong’an moustache toad, Pope’s spiny toads prefer tropical and subtropical moist lowland forests, as well as montane forests and rivers of China.

Unfortunately for us, this is a relatively unstudied species of toad, so therefore, not much is known about their breeding practices and other traits with these types of toads.

• Scientific Name: Leptobrachium Liui
• Size: 2.5-to-3 inches
• Lifespan: Up to 10 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Unknown
• Range: Endemic to southern and southeastern China

Honorable Mentions For Global Types Of Toads

1. Yellow-Bellied Toad

These frogs breed from late-April to mid-September, as they awake from hibernation between March and May.

• Scientific Name: Bombina Variegata
• Size: 1.1-to-2.2 inches
• Lifespan: 5-to-30 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 2-to-30 eggs at a time, between 120-and-170 a season
• Range: Western, central, and southeastern Europe, subgenus endemic to Italy

2. Fire-Bellied Toad

Fire-bellied toads prefer calm, stagnant water systems such as rivers and ponds throughout many parts of Asia. Being a diurnal species, they are active during the day, and spend most of their time lying in wait for prey.

• Scientific Name: Bombina Orientalis
• Size: Up to 2 inches
• Lifespan: 12-to-20 years
• Female Egg Clutches: 80-to-300
• Range: Northern China, throughout North and South Korea, and in Khabarovsk and Primorye regions of Russia

3. Surinam Toad

The Surinam toad, like the yellow-bellied toad and fire-bellied toad, is actually a frog. This is a very unique type of frog, as these types of toads do not lay eggs.

Instead, females will release eggs into the water, where a male will then fertilize them before pushing them onto her back.

The female will then incubate them inside little holes all up and down her back, which looks much like a beehive, before birthing them from those holes. It’s quite a gnarly thing to witness really, check out this video if you’d like to see this incredibly rare birthing process.

The mother will then shed her outer-layer of skin in the days following.

• Scientific Name: Pipa pipa
• Size: 4-to-8 inches
• Lifespan: 7-to-8 years
• Female Egg Clutches: Births 60-to-100 live froglets
• Range: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, and Venezuela

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