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Barking frog

Craugastor augusti · Frogs and toads · Amphibians

Barking frog (Craugastor augusti): Toad-shaped frog 64.5-75 mm with a large head and small truncated toe pads. Greenish to tan, smooth skin with scattered dark spots; dorsolateral skin folds on the back, one fold across the back of the head, and a disk-shaped fold on the belly. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Barking frog — verified North Ground species photograph
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Scientific name
Craugastor augusti
Family
Craugastoridae
In North America
Native
Range
Central Texas to southeastern New Mexico and south into Mexico; NatureServe lists Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Not recorded for Canada.
Biology

How to identify it

Toad-shaped frog 64.5-75 mm with a large head and small truncated toe pads. [1][2]

Greenish to tan, smooth skin with scattered dark spots; dorsolateral skin folds on the back, one fold across the back of the head, and a disk-shaped fold on the belly. [1][2]

Young are often greenish with a fawn band across the middle of the back. [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Low-elevation rocky shrubland, desert and woodland, often on limestone or rhyolite outcrops, in caves or crevices or rodent burrows; under rocks or logs, including oak and juniper woodland in Texas. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Nocturnal; call carries like a dog's bark at a distance and sounds like a throaty 'whurr' close up. [1][2]

Breeds with rain: February-May in Texas, late June-July in Arizona; eggs are laid on land under rocks, logs or in crevices and there is no free-living tadpole stage. [1][2]

Walks with the body held high and inflates to several times normal size when threatened; most active at night during rains. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Central Texas to southeastern New Mexico and south into Mexico; NatureServe lists Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Not recorded for Canada.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology