Common Name: Puerto Rican Crested Toad, Sapo Concho
Scientific Name: Peltophryne lemur
Family: Bufonidae – True Toad family
Location: Puerto Rico
Size: 2.5 – 4.7 inches (64 – 120 mm)
The Puerto Rican Crested Toad is a nocturnal and fossorial toad. Not too much is known about their life history due to their conservation status. Mating seems to happen any month besides March and it follow heavy rains.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Puerto Rican Crested Toad as Endangered with Extinction. The toad is on the United States threatened species list. Its range used to be larger, with the toad living on the Virgin Islands of Virgin Gorda and St. John. However, all the toads died off there. In Puerto Rico, the toads have disappeared from most of their historical range. In the northern parts of its range, urban expansion has wiped out most of the populations up there.
Additionally, the Cane Toad (Rhinella marina) a large, invasive toad species native to South America has been introduced to the island. The Cane Toad directly competes with the Puerto Rican Crested Toad for food while also being a predator from the crested toad.
Luckily, the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) developed a species survival plan (SSP) for the toad way back in 1984. It was the first amphibian to receive a SPP. The SPP covered a range of topics such as education, research, and breeding programs. The breeding programs have been successful, resulting in at least 300,000 tadpoles reintroduced to the wild.
