I completely forgot to post this range extension for Bufo (= Anxyrus) boreas when it came out a few months ago in Herpetological Review. With only five species of herps in the entire state, Alaska doesn’t make it into the herp journal pages very often.

I found this population of toads on a tiny island during an expedition to the South Prince of Wales Wilderness Area. The toadlets were dispersing at edge of the tidal saltwater zone near a stream outlet.

There are three things that surprised me:

1. that this small island could retain water all spring (we had a really hard time finding water for ourselves to drink even on the larger islands),
2. that toad would have been able to disperse to the island in the first place given how far away it is from the mainland, and
3. that such a small island would be able to sustain a toad population.

The catalog entry (HERA.023177) and photo are available online through the Peabody Museum of Natural History collections.

Here is the full page to dowload.