Rhinella marina
(cane toad)

Pictures

Picture	Title	Caption	Copyright
Title Female Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult female. Tanamai desert, Northern Teritory, Australia. Copyright ©Benjamint444/via wikipedia - GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 only	Female	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult female. Tanamai desert, Northern Teritory, Australia.	©Benjamint444/via wikipedia - GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 only
Title Male Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult male. Tanamai desert, Northern Teritory, Australia. Copyright ©Benjamint444/via wikipedia - GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 only	Male	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult male. Tanamai desert, Northern Teritory, Australia.	©Benjamint444/via wikipedia - GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 only
Title Adult Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult. Australia. November 2003. Copyright ©David McClenaghan/CSIRO/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US	Adult	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult. Australia. November 2003.	©David McClenaghan/CSIRO/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
Title Adult Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult. Australia. November 2003. Copyright ©David McClenaghan/CSIRO/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US	Adult	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult. Australia. November 2003.	©David McClenaghan/CSIRO/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
Title Adult Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, in upright posture. Copyright ©Pam Fuller/USGS/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US	Adult	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, in upright posture.	©Pam Fuller/USGS/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
Title Adult Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, dorsal view. Australia. November 2003. Copyright ©David McClenaghan/CSIRO/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US	Adult	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, dorsal view. Australia. November 2003.	©David McClenaghan/CSIRO/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
Title Adult Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, close view of head, showing parotid gland. (pale morph) Copyright ©Alex Popovkin/Florula of Fazenda Rio do Negro, Bahia, Brazil/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US	Adult	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, close view of head, showing parotid gland. (pale morph)	©Alex Popovkin/Florula of Fazenda Rio do Negro, Bahia, Brazil/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
Title Adult Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, close view of head, showing parotid gland. (pale morph) Copyright ©Alex Popovkin/Florula of Fazenda Rio do Negro, Bahia, Brazil/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US	Adult	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult, close view of head, showing parotid gland. (pale morph)	©Alex Popovkin/Florula of Fazenda Rio do Negro, Bahia, Brazil/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
Title Mating pair Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); mating pair (female below). Chocoan tropical rainforest, Ecuador. January 2008. Copyright ©Santiago Ron/via flickr - CC BY-ND 2.0	Mating pair	Rhinella marina (cane toad); mating pair (female below). Chocoan tropical rainforest, Ecuador. January 2008.	©Santiago Ron/via flickr - CC BY-ND 2.0
Title Juvenile Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); juvenile. Copyright ©Taran Rampersad/KnowProSE/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US	Juvenile	Rhinella marina (cane toad); juvenile.	©Taran Rampersad/KnowProSE/Bugwood.org - CC BY-NC 3.0 US
Title Adult female Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult female in hand. This shows the extreme size these amphibians can attain. Saul, Saint-Laurent du Maroni, French Guiana. January 2000. Copyright ©Bernard Dupont/via flickr - CC BY-SA 2.0	Adult female	Rhinella marina (cane toad); adult female in hand. This shows the extreme size these amphibians can attain. Saul, Saint-Laurent du Maroni, French Guiana. January 2000.	©Bernard Dupont/via flickr - CC BY-SA 2.0
Title Prof. Rick Shine with cane toad Caption Rhinella marina (cane toad); from their headquarters at Fogg Dam, near Darwin, Australia, Prof. Rick Shine and his team are at the front line in Australia's war on the cane toad. Introduced seventy years ago to control agricultural pests, cane toads have spread rapidly through Kakadu National Park and are now approaching Darwin. Millions of dollars have been spent on failed attempts to control the pest. Prof. Shine has discovered that cane toads can advance as much as one kilometre in a night. Copyright ©Terri Shine/www.canetoadsinoz.com	Prof. Rick Shine with cane toad	Rhinella marina (cane toad); from their headquarters at Fogg Dam, near Darwin, Australia, Prof. Rick Shine and his team are at the front line in Australia's war on the cane toad. Introduced seventy years ago to control agricultural pests, cane toads have spread rapidly through Kakadu National Park and are now approaching Darwin. Millions of dollars have been spent on failed attempts to control the pest. Prof. Shine has discovered that cane toads can advance as much as one kilometre in a night.	©Terri Shine/www.canetoadsinoz.com

Identity

Preferred Scientific Name

• Rhinella marina (Linnaeus, 1758)

Preferred Common Name

• cane toad

Other Scientific Names

• Bufo agua Clark 1916
• Bufo marinis Barbour 1916
• Bufo marinus Mertens 1969
• Bufo marinus Schneider 1799
• Bufo marinus marinus Mertens 1972
• Bufo strumosus Court 1858
• Chaunus marinus Frost et al. 2006

International Common Names

• English: bufo toad; giant American toad; giant toad; marine Toad; Suriname toad

Local Common Names

• Caribbean: crapaud; kwapp
• Dominican Republic: maco pempen; Maco toro
• Germany: Aga-Kröte

Summary of Invasiveness

Cane toads (Rhinella marina) were introduced to many countries as biological control agents for various insect pests of sugarcane and other crops. The cane toads have proved to be pests themselves. They will feed on almost any terrestrial animal and compete with native amphibians for food and breeding habitats. Their toxic secretions are known to cause illness and death in domestic animals that come into contact with them, such as dogs and cats, and wildlife, such as snakes and lizards. When threatened, they are able to squirt the toxic secretion over a metre, causing extreme pain if rubbed into the eyes. Human fatalities have been recorded following ingestion of the eggs or adults.

Taxonomic Tree

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Metazoa
•         Phylum: Chordata
•             Subphylum: Vertebrata
•                 Class: Amphibia
•                     Order: Anura
•                         Family: Bufonidae
•                             Genus: Rhinella
•                                 Species: Rhinella marina

Description

Cane toads are heavily built with short legs. They can sometimes grow up to 30cm long, with 20cm not uncommon for females and and average of 12-15cm in many regions. Males are slightly smaller. Fingers lack webbing, but the toes are heavily webbed. Adults have a rough, warty skin, coloured tan, brown or dark brown, dull green or black. The tympanum is distinct, about one half to two thirds the size of the eye. Venom glands are aggregated together to form large and distinctive parotoid glands, found above each shoulder. These glands are able to ooze venom. (Gautherot, 2000)

Distribution

Native range: Cane toads are indigenous to northern South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Venezuela, the Guianas, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago), Central America, and Mexico northward to extreme southern Texas.

Distribution Table

The distribution in this summary table is based on all the information available. When several references are cited, they may give conflicting information on the status. Further details may be available for individual references in the Distribution Table Details section which can be selected by going to Generate Report.

Habitat

Cane toads' original habitat, before their dispersal by humans, was seasonal Amazonian savanna, with small fresh water lakes. Cane toads are found in rain forests, both in their native range and introduced range, such as in Hawaii and New Guinea, though not at high densities (Fred Kraus pers.comm). However, they can now be found in many places, such as man-made ponds, gardens, drain pipes, debris, under cement piles and beneath houses. Cane toads will usually stay on dry land and reproduce in any shallow water near its surroundings. Toads and tadpoles are able to tolerate very high levels of salinity. Tadpoles have been observed in water, metres from the open ocean.

Habitat List

Biology and Ecology

Nutrition
Cane toads eat “almost any terrestrial animal”, although they are more likely to consume animals active at ground level during the night. The major diet items are insects, including grass-hoppers, caterpillars and ants, together with millipedes and land snails (Hinkley, 1962 in SPREP, 2000).
The cane toad is opportunistic in its feeding habits and will consume almost anything that it is able to catch (Zug and Zug, 1979 in Lever, 2001). Terrestrial arthropods make up the bulk of the diet, but snails, crabs, small vertebrates (mammals, birds, lizards and frogs), pet food and human faeces may also be consumed (Lever, 2001). Cane toads will gorge themselves if food is in abundance. Unusual items that cane toads have been observed eating include rotting garbage, a coral snake (Micrurus circinalis), fledgling birds and a lit cigarette butt (Lever, 2001).

Reproduction
Cane toads breed between the months of April and September in the Northern Hemisphere and they can be heard calling their mates, beginning in late March. In the Southern Hemisphere, in Australia, it has been noticed that the male cane toad calls in any month of the year, peaking during the wet season. Every year the female cane toad produces two clutches of about 8,000 to 35,000 eggs. The eggs are externally fertilised by the male's sperm. The eggs can be found floating on the surface of water in a jelly-like string or wrapped around vegetation and other debris in the water. The age and size of the female will determine how many eggs the toad will produce (Honolulu Zoo).

Lifecycle stages
Cane toad eggs hatch within 24 to 72 hours of laying into tiny, shiny black tadpoles. Tadpoles metamorphose after two to seven weeks (Alford et al. 1995), becoming very small (10-12mm) terrestrial juveniles. These small juveniles experience very high mortality, and unlike adults or larger juveniles they tend to be diurnal.
It has been estimated that less 0.5 percent of cane toads toad eggs survive to maturity. It takes a year for the toads to reach maturity, when they will be about 75mm long. Cane toads survival in the wild is unknown, but unlikely to be more than 5 years. Animals kept in captivity are estimated to live 10-40 years (Honolulu Zoo).

Means of Movement and Dispersal

Introduction pathways to new locations
Acclimatisation societies: Cane toads have been introduced to many locations around the world as a biological control agent for crop pests (NRM, 2001).
Natural dispersal: Cane toads have spread over large areas of Australia under their own power (Lever, 2001). In the north of their Australian range, dispersal is primarily effected by adults hopping large distances (up to about 55km per year), in relatively straight lines. Cane toads in northern Australia are thus the fastest moving anurans yet recorded. This remarkable dispersal ability appears to be the result of strong selection operating on toads over the last seventy years (Philips et al. 2006).
Road vehicles (long distance): Cane toads have been transported in Australia by large freight trucks or 'road trains' (Sydney Morning Herald, 2002).
Seafreight (container/bulk): Cane toads have been found on Norfolk Islands

Local dispersal methods
Natural dispersal (local): Cane toads have spread over large areas of Australia under their own power (Lever, 2001). In the north of their Australian range (on the invasion front), dispersal is primarily effected by adults hopping large distances (up to about 55km per year), in relatively straight lines. Cane toads in northern Australia are thus the fastest moving anurans yet recorded.
This remarkable dispersal ability appears to be the result of strong selection operating on toads in the invasion front over the last seventy years (Philips et al. 2006).
Road vehicles: Cane toads have been transported in Australia by large freight trucks or 'road trains' (Sydney Morning Herald, 2002).
Water currents: Free-swimming cane toad tadpoles are liable to be swept away during flash floods.

Pathway Causes

Pathway Vectors

Impact Summary

Impact

General Impacts

Threatened Species

Risk and Impact Factors

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments

• Negatively impacts human health
• Negatively impacts animal health
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of endangered species
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Poisoning
• Predation

• Difficult/costly to control

Uses

In the past, cane toads were introduced as a biological control agent for insect pests of sugarcane and other crops.

Bufotenine toxin produced by the cane toad is used as an aphrodisiac and hair-restorer in Japan. In mainland China it is used to lower the heart rate of patients undergoing cardiac surgery (Musgrave, 1996). The toxin is used by South American Indians on hunting arrows. The toxin is sometimes used as a narcotic by some people (Lever, 2001).
Cane toads were used for pregnancy testing in humans. A woman's urine was injected subcutaneously into the lymph glands of a male toad, resulting in spermatazoa becoming present in the toad's urine if the woman was pregnant (Berra, 1998 in Lever, 2001).

Uses List

Drugs, stimulants, social uses

• Miscellaneous drugs, stimulants and social uses
• Narcotic

Environmental

• Biological control

Medicinal, pharmaceutical

• Cosmetic
• Source of medicine/pharmaceutical

Prevention and Control

Physical: Cane toads can be excluded from garden ponds and dams by a 50cm high barrier, such as a thick hedge or a wire mesh fence. Toads may be killed humanely by putting them inside a plastic bag or container and placing them in a freezer (Brandt and Mazzotti, 1990).

Biological: In 1994, the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology (Australia) was assessing the pathogenicity and specificity of viruses against cane toads. Scientists at the CSIRO Animal Health Laboratory in Victoria have been searching for biological controls of cane toads and in 2001 they began investigating gene technology as a mechanism of control. Environment Australia have launched a project for the development of a cane toad biological control. The aim is to develop a self disseminating viral vector to disrupt the development of the toad. Scientists at the University of Adelaide (Australia) have isolated a sex pheromone in a native Australian frog; they hope that a similar pheromone will be found in cane toads that could be used to disrupt the breeding cycle. These are long term solutions.

Bibliography

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Bomford, M., 2003. Risk Assessment for the Import and Keeping of Exotic Vertebrates in Australia. Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra. http://www.feral.org.au/feral_documents/PC12803.pdf

Brandt, Laura A., Mazzotti, Frank J. 1990. Marine toads (Bufo marinus), University of Florida - Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/UW/UW04600.pdf

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References

Daltry JC, 2009. The Status and Management of Saint Lucia's Forest Reptiles and Amphibians. SFA 2003/SLU/BIT-04/0711/EMF/LC., Finland: FCG Fauna & Flora, 80 pp. http://www.bananatrustslu.com/index.php?link=doccentre&project=sfa2003

Greathead DJ, Greathead AH, 1992. Biological control of insect pests by insect parasitoids and predators: the BIOCAT database. Biocontrol News and Information, 13(4):61N-68N.

ISSG, 2011. Global Invasive Species Database (GISD). Invasive Species Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. http://www.issg.org/database

Jn Pierre L, 2008. Mitigating the Threat of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean (Saint Lucia). Report to CABI. 56 pp.

Schotman CYL, 1989. Plant pests of quarantine importance to the Caribbean. RLAC-PROVEG, No. 21:80 pp.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1992. In: Recovery Plan for the Puerto Rican Crested Toad (Peltophryne lemur). US Fish and Wildlife Service, 43 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/920807a.pdf

US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2006. In: Final Recovery Plan for the Newcomb's Snail (Erinna newcombi). US Fish and Wildlife Service, 61 pp. http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/060918b.pdf

Principal Source

Global Invasive Species Database

Contributors

Principal sources: Lever, C. 2001. The Cane Toad: the history and ecology of a successful colonist. Westbury Publishing, West Yorkshire. 230pp.
Gautherot, J., 2000. Bufo marinus. 2001 James Cook University.

Distribution Maps