Where do spade spadefoots live? Outwardly, the common spadefoot is a “copy” of the common frog, but
Common spadefoot | |
Scientific classification | |
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Kingdom: |
Animals |
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Chordata |
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Amphibians |
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Anurans |
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Garlics |
Genus: |
Garlics |
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Common spadefoot |
International scientific name | |
Pelobates fuscus (Laurenti, 1768) |
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Species in taxonomic databases | |
CoL | |
Common spadefoot, or thick-headed weed(lat. Pelobates fuscus) - a species of the spadefoot family.
Description
The sizes are small - 70-80 mm; the head is large, the body is stocky, the hind limbs are relatively short. The skin is smooth, colored on top in a light gray or brownish color with brown or blackish spots and red dots of varying sizes. There is always a light stripe along the back. The belly is light, often with dark gray spots. Characteristic Features appearance spadefoot is a vertical pupil and a bulge of the forehead between the eyes, as well as a garlic smell - a poisonous secretion of the skin glands, which is toxic to small animals, and in humans only causes irritation of the mucous membranes. It is for the specific smell of this secretion that the spadefoot got its name. The mating calluses of males are not located on the fingers, as in most tailless amphibians, but on the shoulders.
Spreading
The range of the common spadefoot is located within the borders of Central and Eastern Europe, Western Asia. IN Saratov region lives everywhere, but in the Right Bank it has a higher population.
Habitats and lifestyle
Common spadefoot larva
Found in mixed and deciduous forests, in agricultural landscapes (fields, vegetable gardens, orchards). In the Volga region, it settles in floodplains and along the banks of various reservoirs.
The common spadefoot is one of the most land species among amphibians of the Saratov region. Leads the ground twilight night look life, visiting the reservoir only during the reproductive period. During the day they are active in reservoirs during the spawning period and rainy weather. During the day, amphibians burrow into the ground using their hind limbs with a large calcaneal tubercle, as well as the distal part of the urostyle. Within 2-5 minutes they burrow, as a rule, to a depth of 10-15 cm, where it is not as dry and hot as on the surface. Underground, the spadefoot is located in a horizontal position. Due to this way of life, spadefoots prefer soils of light mechanical composition (sand, sandy loam, loam, cultivated fields).
In spring they appear in late March - early April. For reproduction, permanent, non-drying water bodies (lakes, flooded pits, etc.) are chosen with clean water and rich vegetation. Sometimes it can be found in small holes, small puddles, ditches, road ruts filled with melt water.
During mating, the male grabs the female by the body in front of the hips (inguinal amplexus). Reproduction takes place under water at a temperature of +8°C and above. Males make gurgling sounds like “knock... knock... knock”. Spawning continues until the end of May - the first ten days of June. The clutch is a cord up to 1 m long, usually 35-50 cm, consisting of 350-3200 eggs with a diameter of 1.5-2.5 mm.
After about 5-9 days, tadpoles 4-5 mm long appear. Their gill opening (spiraculum) is located on the left side of the body and is directed backward and upward. The anus is located on midline bodies. Oral disc of tadpoles oval shape, is surrounded on almost all sides (except for the notch at the top) by labial papillae. The denticles are randomly arranged in several rows of intermittent and solid rows above and below the horny jaws (beak). The upper fin of the tail is high; the end of the tail is pointed. Tadpoles first stay in the bottom part of the reservoir, and then, having reached a length of four to five centimeters, appear in the water column and at its surface. Larval development can last from 58 to 140 days. Before metamorphosis (the transformation of the larva into an adult animal), the length of the tadpole is one and a half times the size of the females. The emergence of young individuals 15-35 mm long from reservoirs is observed from the first half of July to the end of August. They live in damp areas (in grass, leaf litter, under stones, fallen trees, etc.) near water bodies. Sexual maturity occurs in the 3rd year of life.
Adults, in addition to their own burrows, use rodent burrows as shelters. When they see danger, spadefoots take a defensive pose - they swell, rise on their paws, sometimes open their mouths, and make sounds.
Spadefoots leave for the winter at the end of September - October. They overwinter on land, burrowing into the ground or using rodent burrows, sometimes in wells and cellars.
Nutrition
The composition of the spadefoot's food is quite diverse and is largely determined by the seasonal dynamics of the fauna of its prey habitats. Spadefoot spadefoots feed in the evening and at night (from 21-22 to 2-4 hours). The increase in the degree of their night activity depends not only on temperature environment, but also humidity: than more humidity, the higher their activity. The daily diet ranges from 200 mg in spring (April) and autumn (October), to 400 mg in summer (June - August). During the entire active period, one spadefoot moth kills more than 2000 animals and utilizes 80-100 g of biomass. The basis of amphibian nutrition consists of hemiptera, coleoptera, hymenoptera, arachnids and other invertebrate animals. At the same time, most of the prey consists of animals weighing 5-20 mg and body length 6-15 mm.
The main food of tadpoles during the first period of their development is detritus, and then they switch mainly to plant foods, which can account for up to 70%.
Limiting factors and status
The enemies of spadefoots are reptiles (common and water snakes), birds (great bittern, gray heron, falcon, hoodie, magpie, etc.) and mammals (muskrat, common fox, stone and pine marten etc.), in some cases they are eaten by fish (common pike, perch). Huge number tadpoles die from drying out water bodies.
The common spadefoot is not one of the rare species Saratov region, and in some places it reaches high numbers. Protected by the Berne Convention (Annex II). IN special measures The species does not need protection.
Literature
- Fauna of the Saratov region. Book 4. Amphibians and reptiles: Textbook. allowance / G. V. Shlyakhtin, V. G. Tabachishin, E. V. Zavyalov, I. E. Tabachishina. - Saratov: Publishing house Sarat. University, 2005. - pp. 21-24
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The common spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus in Latin) is a tailless amphibian from the spadefoot family (Pelobatidae in Latin). It is often called thick-headed weed. She is missing ribs and teeth at the top of her jaw, and big tongue the anterior part is attached to the lower jaw.
Spreading
Spadefoots live on plains with a loose sandy or clay layer of soil. These amphibians can be found on heather heaths, among dunes, in gardens and vegetable gardens. For their homes, they dig burrows in loose soil or use underground tunnels made by other rodents.
The amphibian does not like to settle on hills; it cannot be seen above 400 meters above sea level. There must be a body of water near her home in which she can lay her eggs.
Outside mating season The spadefoot avoids damp places and rocky soils. Its habitat extends to the Eastern and Central Europe, Western Asia.
Reproduction
During mating season from April to July, the spadefoot goes to a pond and spends about a week in it, mating and spawning. How rainier summer, the longer the breeding season lasts.
The clutch looks like a thin sausage, 40 to 70 cm long and up to 2 cm thick. It contains up to 3,000 eggs. The cords of eggs envelop the plants or can lie freely on the bottom.
Young tadpoles are colored reddish, while older ones are golden brown. To feed, they hover vertically and collect the food they need from the surface of the water. They swim in shallow water very rarely.
As soon as the tadpoles develop their front legs, they come out onto land and hide underground or behind rocks until their tail falls off. The development process lasts from 3 to 5 months, and the late brood develops until June next year. After metamorphosis, the juveniles grow up to 3.5 cm. Puberty in spadefoots it occurs at the age of 2-3 years.
Behavior
The common spadefoot is one of those amphibians that are nocturnal and thrive on land. During summer travel it goes from the nearest body of water to a distance of more than 600 meters. After a day's rest, it goes out to hunt at night and hunts for snails, insects and worms.
After night hunting the amphibian digs the soil with its hind legs, and plunges into the ground with its back, being almost in a vertical position. At this time, she closes her nostrils and eyes. For total immersion It takes a couple of minutes for the garlic to get into the ground.
As a form of self-defense, a frightened spadefoot secretes a skin secretion that smells like garlic, which can suppress the attacker's appetite. If it is not possible to hide at this moment, then, croaking loudly, it swells and stands on its feet in order to increase its size and thereby scare away the aggressor.
Description
Body length reaches 8 cm. Large bulging eyes with vertical pupils located on both sides of the massive head. The muzzle is short and rounded.
The dense, wide body is grayish-brown or olive-green with visible spots. irregular shape. The lighter sides are strewn with small red spots.
The skin is smooth and shiny with small flat bumps. The hind legs are very muscular and the toes are connected by swimming membranes. At the base of the first toe there are horny calcaneal tubercles.
IN wildlife The common spadefoot lives on average about 5-6 years. In captivity good care she lives to be 11 years old.
Extraordinary chapel
The entire territory of Belarus
Garlic family ( Pelobatidae).
It's quite normal look, is distributed rather unevenly throughout the entire territory, including Poozerie.
Medium-sized amphibian. Body length is 4-6 cm, but in the population individuals of this size make up only 8-12% total number(most measure 3-4 cm). Weight 5.8-20.0 g. Body shape oval, slightly flat. The muzzle is rounded, the forehead is convex. The limbs are relatively short. The body shape resembles a toad. The skin is smooth or slightly bumpy. There is no eardrum. The eyes are big. Distinctive feature is a vertically set slit pupil and a very large spade-shaped hard yellowish calcaneal tubercle on inner surface hind legs, a horny plate, with the help of which it is quickly buried. Males have an oval gland on their shoulders, they are slightly smaller than females and are colored more contrastingly. There are no nuptial calluses. Numerous skin glands secrete a poisonous secretion that smells like garlic (hence the name).
The color is dim. The upperparts are light gray, sometimes dark gray, with a yellowish or brown tint. Against this background, dark olive, dark brown or black spots with red dots are visible various shapes and magnitude. The underparts are light (grayish-white) with a slight yellowness, with dark spots, sometimes without them.
The larvae (tadpoles) of spadefoot moths are very large: the length including the tail reaches7.3-17.5 cm, although in newly hatched ones it does not exceed 3-5 mm. After reaching the 26th stage of development, the larvae of spadefoot moths acquire a peculiar shiny bluish tint. The body is quite massive, the tail is pointed at the end. The rows of denticles on the oral disc are usually paired, which are interrupted in the middle, at upper lip- 3, on the bottom - 4-5 rows.
Common spadefoot - typical terrestrial view. Spadefoots come to water bodies only during the breeding season, spending the rest of the time on land. Due to its burrowing lifestyle (it usually buries itself in the soil during the daytime), it adheres to lighter and looser soils. Most often, spadefoot can be found in floodplains of rivers and lakes, especially in areas of meadows bordering sandy soils, as well as in mixed and deciduous forests and other places. It gravitates noticeably to places transformed by man (fields, gardens, vegetable gardens, forest belts, parks), where the soil is loosest. The average population density is 10-20 individuals/ha, but in some areas the number of spadefoot spadefoots can be relatively high - up to 100-800 individuals per 1 hectare. The ratio of males to females in Belarus is 1:1.38.
You can most often meet spadefoot spadefoots at dusk, at night and morning time and only occasionally during the day (in cool or rainy weather), since at this time they are still in shelters. This is probably why the spadefoot spadefoot is considered a rare species or is not known at all. For a day it buries itself in the soil, and buries itself quickly (within a few minutes), raking the soil to the sides with its hind limbs, which is facilitated by powerful calcaneal mounds. When burrowing, it sinks into the ground with the back of its body. On slightly damp sand, the spadefoot has time to bury its head in 2-3 minutes. It usually burrows into the soil during the daytime, although it often uses rodent holes, piles of stones, logs, etc. for shelter.
At dusk you can find quite a lot of these small amphibian diggers. On high sandy shore On the Dnieper River, which borders the lowland, on a July night there were up to 4-5 individuals per 1 m².
The food composition of the spadefoot, which leads a twilight and nocturnal lifestyle, contains practically no flying or water forms. The most common food of the spadefoot is terrestrial invertebrates - dipterans (34.5%), beetles (11.4%), caterpillars (13.1%), spiders, earthworms.
Garlics, like toads, are not always protected from enemies by poisonous skin secretions. Its venom can cause fatal poisoning only in small individuals. It is safe for humans in doses that are fatal to insects and lizards. Garlic can be safely picked up. She often becomes a victim of other animals - an ordinary snake, common viper, curlew, stork, heron, bittern, falcon, black grouse, black kite, buzzard, eagle owl, little owl, tawny owl, rollers, crows, magpies, as well as hedgehogs, foxes, ferrets, minks, martens, badgers and otters.
He spends the winter on land, burrowing into the soil to a depth of at least 30-50 cm ( sometimes up to 1.5 m) or uses other shelters (rodent holes, basements, cellars). Goes to wintering relatively early - during September. In spring it appears no earlier than April.
For breeding (late April - early May), spadefoots usually choose bodies of water with a more or less constant water level and depths from 0.5-0.7 m to 1.0-1.3 m , although occasionally spawning occurs in temporary bodies of water. Mating cries males are relatively quiet, as they are only fed underwater. From the shore they resemble a gurgling sound “knock, knock, knock” or"krok, krok, krok". On land, spadefoots sometimes make peculiar abrupt (grunting) sounds.
Although males do not have nuptial calluses, they firmly hold the females by the lumbar region during mating. Sometimes spadefoot mating occurs on land, on the way to a body of water. However, most often, unlike most other tailless amphibians, individuals of spadefoots mate in the water column, where spawning occurs. They do not form clusters during reproduction. As a rule, there are no more than 15-20 pairs in one body of water.
Spawning also occurs in depth, at a water temperature of 12-20°C, sometimes a little lower. The clutch is in the form of two mucous, relatively thick sausage-shaped cords 40-80 cm long, inside of which eggs are randomly scattered. The cords are wrapped around seaweed, sunken branches and other underwater objects. The fertility of females ranges from 1200 to 3200 (usually 1600-1700) eggs. The spawning of the spadefoot spadefoot is perhaps the least noticeable in nature.
The larval period lasts relatively long - 100-110 days. At the beginning of development, spadefoot tadpoles are little noticeable in water bodies, but after 30-40 days (until June), when they reach 35-50 mm or more (sometimes up to 70-100 mm), and later they are very noticeable. If you scare a flock of tadpoles that are basking in the upper layers of water, you can even notice how they move large vegetation underwater. Giant tadpoles that barely fit in the palm of your hand. D line with tail reaches 10 cm or more at the end larval stage 7.0-16.0 cm. The larvae feed on algae. They scrape them off the surface aquatic plants, stones and other items. Spadefoot tadpoles are the most herbivorous; plant foods make up up to 80% of their diet. This is facilitated by a well-developed oral apparatus: powerful beak and relatively large number denticles on the oral disc (more than 1000).
Olga Vasilevskaya, approx. Pinsk
Another candidate for pet of frogs is Common spadefoot spadefoot (Pelobates fuscus)- a representative of a separate family of spadefoots. This is a small amphibian up to 8 cm long, usually yellow-brown or light gray with brown and black spots and red dots. The common spadefoot got its name due to the fact that the skin sometimes begins to smell like garlic. The common spadefoot is found in areas with soft soil, as they like to burrow in the ground. Therefore, they can often be found in the fields, but only at night and mainly in wet weather or before its onset. The spadefoot burrows into the ground with the help of its hind legs, armed with a spade-shaped tubercle.
The spadefoot moves into water bodies only for the spawning period, that is, for 20-25 days. The female lays 1200-1800 eggs. Among all amphibians, the spadefoot has the longest hibernation - up to 200 days. Development lasts longer than in other amphibians - 90-110 days. Therefore, spadefoots can appear interesting object to study the process of reproduction and development of amphibians. Source:
Maintenance and care of common spadefoot
Young spadefoot tadpoles feeding plant food, adult spadefoots eat ants, ground beetles, spiders and insect larvae, which makes up 80% of their food. The spadefoot also takes great pleasure in eating earthworms, slugs and other invertebrates. It is recommended to maintain the same diet if you decide to keep the common spadefoot as a pet.
To keep the common spadefoot at home, we recommend a 30-liter terrarium with a mandatory separate reservoir, the water in which should preferably be changed daily. It is recommended to lay a 5-8 cm layer of earth, peat, tree bark at the bottom, and you can add a little sand. The presence of green plants is a must. For adult individuals, additional heating of the terrarium is not required; 15-20 °C with an air humidity of 75 to 90% is sufficient. Since the spadefoot is nocturnal, the terrarium does not need to be equipped with lighting.
You can buy common spadefoot in pet stores or large poultry markets.
Common spadefoot - Pelobates fuscus(Laurenti, 1768)
(= Rana vespertina Pallas, 1771)
Appearance. Small amphibians; maximum body length 71 mm (in Europe up to 90 mm). Forehead convex between the eyes. Inner heel tubercle yellowish or light brown. Leather on the back and sides it is smooth, but small flat tubercles are scattered throughout the body. Well developed between the toes of the hind legs swimming membrane. Above painted in gray or brown tones with a more or less symmetrical pattern of dark spots, sometimes forming stripes; the edges of the spots are clearly defined. A light stripe runs along the back. In addition, small reddish spots may occur mainly on the sides. The underparts are light, often with dark gray spots. Albinos (adults and larvae) are occasionally found.
Spreading. The species' range covers central and eastern Europe from eastern France, Belgium and Holland in the west to Western Siberia(Trans-Urals) and Kazakhstan in the east. The northern border in Europe runs through Denmark, the very south of Sweden, Poland, the southern border through the north of Italy, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. On the territory former USSR the species is distributed from the outskirts of St. Petersburg through Vologda, Vyatka region, Udmurtia and Perm region to the Tyumen region in the north and to the coast of the Black Sea, Crimea and the North Caucasus (to the south Krasnodar region, Chechnya and Dagestan) in the south. Absent in the lower reaches of the Volga, but lives on the Ural River up to the mouth. In the north-west of Kazakhstan it is found in the basins of the Ural, Emba, Irgiz and Turgai rivers. Central Asian finds of spadefoot larvae in Kazakhstan (Aral Sea), Uzbekistan (surroundings of Tashkent) and Kyrgyzstan (Chui Valley), geographically very remote from the species’ range, upon re-examination turned out to be giant tadpoles of the lake frog.
Taxonomy of the species. The species consists of 2 subspecies. Most of range, including the territory of the former USSR, is occupied by a nominative subspecies, Pelobates fuscus fuscus(Laurenti, 1768). In northern Italy (Po Valley), another subspecies lives isolated, Pelobates fuscus insubricus Cornalia, 1873.
Habitats. Inhabits plains in forest, forest-steppe and steppe zones, preferring areas with loose soil. It rises up to 810 m above sea level (Czech Republic); in the Carpathian region up to 360 m. Although the spadefoot is primarily a resident of open landscapes, it can be found in quite a variety of habitats - in broad-leaved, mixed, coniferous (pine) forests, bush thickets, in floodplains of rivers and lakes, in meadows, in swamps, steppes, gardens, parks, fields, vegetable gardens, along roadsides, etc. In the south of their range, in areas with arid climates, spadefoots are associated with river valleys, which is why their distribution here is tapered. The presence of reservoirs and soft, loose soil determine the habitat of the species. The most striking feature of the spadefoot spade is its ability to quickly burrow into the soil using the hind limbs and large calcaneal tubercle as a shovel. Therefore, it is not surprising that it prefers light sandy soils, settles in cultivated fields, where its numbers can increase several times, but avoids rocky soil.
Activity. The common spadefoot spadefoot is a very dry-loving species. Found in water bodies only during the breeding season. During the day it leads a very secretive lifestyle, usually buried in the soil, sometimes to a depth of 1 m. It also uses rodent holes, moles, leaf litter, stones, fallen logs, etc. for shelter. During the breeding season, animals are active almost around the clock; outside it only at dusk and at night, and only occasionally can they be observed before sunset. IN cloudy weather spadefoots can be found in daylight hours days.
Reproduction. In the spring after wintering appears in mid-March - early May at air temperature 12-14°C and water temperature 8-10°C. It breeds, as a rule, in non-drying stagnant bodies of water - ponds, sand quarries, ditches, holes with fairly clear water and semi-aquatic vegetation, although eggs can also be found in temporary bodies of water (shallow puddles, ruts on the road, etc.).
Pairing usually occurs under water soon after the individuals arrive at the reservoir at a water temperature of 9-15°C. The spawning period covers the second half of March - early June. Laying eggs resembles a thick (1.5-2.0 cm) sausage-shaped cord from 40 cm to 1 m long, usually about 30-50 cm, which contains from 400 to 3200 eggs with a diameter of 1.5-2.5 mm. These cords are usually placed on plants near the surface of the water:
Hatching of larvae from caviar occurs in 5-11, usually 8 days. The hatched tadpoles are very small, only about 4-5 mm in length. They grow very quickly and before metamorphosis reach large sizes, sometimes up to 175 mm in total length (in Europe up to 220 mm). At first, tadpoles live in the bottom layer of the reservoir, but then they appear in the water column and near the surface. Larval development can last from 56 to 140 days. Many tadpoles dies when water bodies dry up, as well as in winter, if they do not have time to undergo metamorphosis, although there are known cases of successful wintering at the larval stage. The overall survival rate to the fingerling stage can be only up to \% of the laid eggs. The emergence of fingerlings from reservoirs begins in early July and can continue until the second half of September. After metamorphosis, the fingerlings are only 10-33 mm long and weigh up to 6 g. They live in the grass or on damp soil near a pond. They often spend the winter here, buried in the ground.
Sexual maturity occurs in the third year of life with a minimum length of about 41 mm for males and 43 mm for females. The sex ratio is approximately equal. In nature they live for at least 4 years.
Nutrition. They feed mainly on various terrestrial insects: beetles, especially ground beetles and click beetles, butterfly caterpillars, etc., as well as spiders, centipedes, and earthworms. Tadpoles feed on detritus in the first two months of their development, and then switch mainly to plant foods, which can account for up to 79%. They scrape algae from the surface of aquatic plants, stones or other objects, but can also swallow whole leaves of duckweed floating on the surface of a reservoir. Animal food (protozoa, rotifers, crustaceans and small mollusks) appears to be an obligatory component of the diet, although insignificant in volume.
Wintering. Spadefoots go to winter in September-October. They overwinter on land, burrowing into the ground or using rodent burrows, often also in wells and cellars.
Abundance and conservation status. The common spadefoot is not a rare species, and in some places it reaches high numbers. Found in many nature reserves. As a rare species on the border of its range, it is listed in the Red Book of Estonia, but is not included in the Red Books of the USSR and other republics. Protected by the Berne Convention (Annex II). There is no threat to the existence of the species. The ecology of the species has not been sufficiently studied.
Similar species. It differs from the closely related Syrian spadefoot in the shape of its forehead (“bump”) and more strongly developed membranes on the hind limbs. Although the ranges of both species in the territory of the former USSR are geographically isolated, they are located close to each other in the Danube Delta region and in Dagestan.
At the Ecosystem Ecological Center you can purchase color identification table " Amphibians and reptiles of central Russia"and a computer identification of amphibians (amphibians) of Russia, as well as others teaching materials By aquatic fauna and flora(see below).