American toad American toad The American toad ("Anaxyrus americanus") is a common species of toad found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. It is divided into three subspecies—the eastern American toad ("A. a. americanus"), the dwarf American toad ("A. a. charlesmithi"), and the rare Hudson Bay toad ("A. a. copei"). Recent taxonomic treatments place this species in the genus "Anaxyrus" instead of "Bufo". The eggs of the American toad are laid in two strings and can hatch in 2–14 days. When hatched the tadpoles are recognizable by their skinny tails in relation to the size of their black bodies. They may
Common toad the rate for deaths among males likely to be of a similar order. The main toxic substance found in the parotoid gland and skin of the common toad is called bufotoxin. It was first isolated by Heinrich Wieland and his colleagues in 1922 and they succeeded in identifying its structure about 20 years later. Meanwhile, other workers succeeded in isolating the same compound and its parent steroid bufotalin from the Japanese toad ("Bufo japonicus"). By 1986, researchers at the Arizona State University had succeeded in synthesizing the toad venom constituents bufotalin, bufalitoxin and bufotoxin. The chemical formula of bufotoxin is