''Incilius'' is a genus of toads in the true toad family,

Bufonidae {{Cat main, Toad This category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * C ...

. They are sometimes known as the Central American toads or Middle American toads and are found in southern USA, Mexico,

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, and northern Pacific South America (Colombia and Ecuador). They are an ecologically and biogeographically diverse group of toads, including micro-

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species such as ''

Incilius spiculatus ''Incilius spiculatus'' (common name: spiculate toad) is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is endemic to Oaxaca, Mexico, and known from the northern slopes of the Sierra de Juárez and the adjacent Sierra Mixe. Its natural habitats ar ...

'' that are restricted to undisturbed

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

s, and widespread lowland species such as ''

Incilius valliceps The Gulf Coast toad (''Incilius valliceps'') is a species of toad native to eastern and southeastern Mexico and Central America as far south as Costa Rica. Description The Gulf Coast toad is a medium-sized toad species, ranging from in leng ...

'' that predominantly occur in disturbed habitats.

Taxonomy and systematics

This genus was first described in 1863 by

Edward Drinker Cope Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontology, paleontologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, herpetology, herpetologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker fam ...

who designated the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

as ''

Incilius coniferus The evergreen toad (''Incilius coniferus'') is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. Conservation status It is potentially threatened by habitat loss, but is still categorized as a least-concern species by the International Union for Co ...

''. This proved unpopular and these toads were known under the genus ''

Bufo ''Bufo'' is a genus of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. As traditionally defined, it was a wastebasket genus containing a large number of toads from much of the world but following taxonomic reviews most of these have been moved to ...

'' until the early 2000s. The current delineation of the genus follows Mendelson ''et al''. (2011) who brought ''Cranopsis''/''Cranophryne''/''Ollotis'' and ''Crepidius''/''Crepidophryne'' into

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with ''Incilius'', while providing evidence for removing ''

Rhinella ''Rhinella'', commonly known as South American toads, beaked toads or Rio Viejo toads, is a genus of true toads native to Neotropical parts of Mexico, Central and South America. Additionally, the cane toad has been Introduced species, Introduced ...

'' from ''Incilius''. Taxonomy and systematics of the toads now considered to be classified in this genus had seen many changes after ''Incilius'' was resurrected to

split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

''Bufo'' in the less than a decade before this 2011 paper. ''I. coniferus'' went through some five name changes in less than a dozen years. However, the

monophyly In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent comm ...

of ''Incilius'' continues to be threatened by ''

Incilius bocourti ''Incilius bocourti'' (formerly ''Bufo bocourti''; common name Bocourt's toad) is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. The species is found in southwestern Guatemala and in adjacent Mexico in the state of Chiapas. Its phylogenetic position ...

'', which might be the

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of ''

Anaxyrus ''Anaxyrus'', containing the North American toads, is a genus of true toads in the family Bufonidae. The genus is endemic to North and Central America, and contains many familiar North American toad species such as the American toad, Woodhouse's ...

''. Another discussion has been the taxonomic level at which the genus is recognized. ''Incilius'' did not see wide recognition before the large-scale revision of amphibian systematics by

Darrel Frost Darrel Richmond Frost (born 1951) is an American Herpetology, herpetologist and systematist. He was previously head curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History, as well as president of both the Society for the Study of Amphibi ...

and colleagues in 2006, then under the name ''Cranopsis'', including the former "''

Bufo valliceps The Gulf Coast toad (''Incilius valliceps'') is a species of toad native to eastern and southeastern Mexico and Central America as far south as Costa Rica. Description The Gulf Coast toad is a medium-sized toad species, ranging from in leng ...

'' group" and some related species. However, others have argued that ''Incilius'' should be treated as a

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

of ''

''.

Species

There are at present 39 species: The AmphibiaWeb recognizes ''Incilius intermedius'' (Günther, 1858) as a valid species, whereas the Amphibian Species of the World considers it a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of '' Incilius occidentalis'' (Camerano, 1879). One fossil species, '' Incilius praevius'' (Tihen, 1951), is known from the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages: the Aquitanian age, Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 annum, Ma to ...

(

Hemingfordian The Hemingfordian on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from 20,600,000 to 16,300,000 years BP. It is usually considered to overlap the lates ...

) of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3007261 Amphibian genera Amphibians of North America Amphibians of Central America Amphibians of South America Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope Taxa described in 1863 Extant Burdigalian first appearances