Spea intermontana
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The Great Basin spadefoot (Spea intermontana) is an amphibian in the family Scaphiopodidae. It is 3.8 to 6.3 centimetres (1.5 to 2.5 in) long and is usually colored gray, olive or brown. Great Basin spadefoot toads have adapted to life in dry habitats. They use the hard, keratinized spade on each foot to dig a burrow, where they spend long periods during cold and dry weather. They are opportunistic hunters and will eat anything they can subdue. While their tadpoles have numerous predators, adults are able to produce skin secretions that deter enemies.
The Great Basin spadefoot ranges from 3.8 to 6.3 centimetres (1.5 to 2.5 in) long. It is usually gray, olive or brown colored. Gray streaks outline an hourglass-shaped marking on the back. The skin is smooth compared with the bumpy skin of the true toads in the genus Bufo. There is a spade present on the inside of each hind foot; it has sharp edges and is wedge-shaped. A glandular boss is present between the eyes. Eyes are catlike; pupils are vertical in bright light and round at night. Dark brown spots are present on each upper eyelid.
The natural habitats of the Great Basin spadefoot... Wikipedia →
Recording0:21
United States · 2020
© RJ Baltierra · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:17
Canada · 2023
© Kat Kodiak · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:27
Canada · 2020
© likelichenalot · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northwest Trek Wildlife Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | The Living Planet Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Great Basin Spadefoot sighting in Zion National Park on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 7 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Great Basin Spadefoot in Zion National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July and October–April, the lowest months. That is one of Zion National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 75 mm in March.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Great Basin Spadefoot sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Zion National Park, in our data
Zion National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Great Basin Spadefoot sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Anura
The closest relatives of the Great Basin Spadefoot that you can see in Zion National Park (order Anura, Frogs and Toads) are Canyon Tree Frog (about 60%), Arizona Toad (about 40%) and Red-spotted Toad (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Great Basin Spadefoot is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Zion National Park (18 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.
