Incilius melanochlorus
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Incilius melanochlorus, formerly Bufo melanochlorus, is a mid-sized species of toad with a crested head in the family Bufonidae. It is primarily distinguished by its very long first finger with respect to the other fingers. It is found in southern Nicaragua, in the northern Cordillera Central (central highlands) and on the Atlantic slopes of eastern Costa Rica, and in western Panama.
Frank and Ramus (1995) give it the common name dark green toad, Panamanian herpetologists Jaramillo and Ibáñez (2009) use wet forest toad or west forest toad according to Darrel R. Frost (likely a misspelling). A local Spanish name from Costa Rica specifically for this species is sapo Costaricense de la selva, but it also just known as sapo.
The first article about this species was published in 1875 by Edward Drinker Cope who wrote of the toad as a particular but unnamed variety of Bufo valliceps from eastern Costa Rica. It was described as a novel species in its own right in 1877 by Cope under the name B. melanochlorus. The holotype is a specimen (undesignated in Cope's original publication, but thought to be USNM30592) taken in Limón Province sometime before 1877... Wikipedia →
Advertisement call0:24
Costa Rica · 2022
© Chris Harrison · XC893980 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Recording0:19
Costa Rica · 2026
© Amaël Borzée · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wet Forest Toad sighting in Braulio Carrillo National Park on a given day, based on 26 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 22nd most-seen of the 46 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Wet Forest Toad in Braulio Carrillo National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, August and December, the lowest months.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wet Forest Toad sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Wet Forest Toad sightings, Braulio Carrillo National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Arenal Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%) and Tenorio Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%).
Same family: Bufonidae
The closest relatives of the Wet Forest Toad that you can see in Braulio Carrillo National Park (family Bufonidae, True Toads) are Leaf Litter Toad (about 60%) and Giant Marine Toad (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wet Forest Toad is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Braulio Carrillo National Park (26 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
