Ascaphus truei
Identification Tips:
Adults
• Small; 30-50 mm; females larger
• Males have a fleshy 'tail' used in reproduction
• Eyes have vertical, diamond-shaped pupils
• Light patch on snout between the eyes
• Males develop black pads on hands and black nodules (tubercles) on arms and sides in breeding season
• No visible ear drum
Tadpoles and Metamorphs
• Very large suction-cup mouth on the underside of the head
• White spot at tip of tail
• Thick, muscular tail
Conservation Status:
| British Columbia | Canada | Natureserve | |
| COSEWIC | Species at Risk Act | ||
| Not at Risk (Yellow List) | Special Concern | Special Concern | G4, S4 |
Life History:
• A very unusual frog
• Longest lived frog in North America; to 15 years
• Tailed frogs are only type of frogs in North America that reproduce using internal fertilization (yes, that is what the male's tail-like structure is for)
• Breed in fall, but female retains sperm until egg laying occurs in mid-summer
• Lays eggs in long strings under rocks in the stream
• Adults are nocturnal and eat invertebrates
• Tadpoles scrape algae from rocks in the stream
Habitat:
• Clear, cold, rocky streams from sea level to sub-alpine elevations
• Primarily in older forests
• Avoid steep streams prone to slides or debris flows
• Adults spend days under rocks or logs in or beside streams
• May be found in forest during wet weather
Range:
British Columbia
• Coastal drainages from Fraser Valley to Nass River.
• Inland to Terrace, Lytton and Cathedral Lakes
• In Fraser valley limited to streams on, or very near, mountainsides
Global
• Coastal drainages from Northwestern California to Nass River, BC
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Primary Information Sources:
Efauna BC: http://ibis.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/
BC Conservation Data Centre: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/
