Bufo woodhousei Girard - Woodhouse’s Toad

Since publication of Atlas of Amphibians in Tennessee (Redmond, W. H. and A. F. Scott. 1996. The Center for Field Biology, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN. 94 pp.), several applicable taxonomic and nomenclatural changes and numerous reports of new county records have appeared in the literature. Comments, accompanied by cited references, on the taxonomic and nomenclatural changes plus bibliographical information on county records as they pertain to B. woodhousei follow:

When Atlas of Amphibians in Tennessee appeared in1996, B. woodhousei included the subspecies B. w. woodhousii, B. w. velatus, and B. w. fowleri (Collins, 1990), of which only the latter was known in Tennessee. Subsequently, B. w. fowleri has been elevated to a full species under the names Bufo fowleri (Hinckley), Fowler’s Toad (Crother, 2000), which is the nomenclature appropriate for Tennessee populations.

More recently at the generic level, Bufo was split by Frost et al. (2006) , and all eastern North American bufonid species placed in the genus Anaxyrus.

Collins, J. T. 1990. Standard common and current scientific names for North American amphibians and reptiles. SSAR Herptol. Circ. 19.

Crother, B. I.. 2000. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North American north of Mexico, with comments regarding confidence in our understanding. SSAR Herpetol. Circ. 29.

Frost, D. R., T. Grant, J. Faivovich, R. H. Bain, A. Haas, C. F. B. Haddad, R. O. De Sá, A. Channing, M. Wilkinson, S. C. Donnellan, C. J. Raxworthy, J. A. Campbell, B. L. Blotto, P. Moler, R. C. Drewes, R. A. Nussbaum, J. D. Lynch, D. M. Green, and W. C. Wheeler. 2006. The Amphibian Tree of Life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History:297:1-370.

Bibliographical information on reports of new Tennessee county records of B. fowleri appearing since 1996 are listed below by counties, which are arranged alphabetically.

Scott, A. F., S. Sutton, and S. Williamson. 2000. New county records of amphibians and turtles from the Western Highland Rim of central Tennessee. Herpetol. Rev. 31:117-118.

Lawrence County

Messer, H.A. and B.P. Butterfield.  2007.  New records for anurans from Lawrence County, Tennessee.  Herpetol. Rev. 38:245.

Marshall County 

Haislip, N.  2007.  Geographic distribution.  Bufo fowleri.  Herpetol. Rev. 38:473.

Morgan County 

Faust, T.M.  2008.  Geographic distribution. Anaxyrus fowleri.  Herpetol. Rev. 39:104-5.

Warren County

Miller, J. A., J. H. Miller, M. L. Niemiller, and B. T. Miller.  2006.  Bufo fowleri.  Geographic distribution.  Herpetol. Rev. 37:486.