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Oak toad

Anaxyrus quercicus · Frogs and toads · Amphibians

Oak toad (Anaxyrus quercicus): Smallest toad in North America, 1.9-3.3 cm, with a short head, pointed nose and flat body. Black or brown with a long pale dorsal stripe (white, cream, yellow or orange) and 4-5 pairs of dark blotches; fine reddish bumps give a rough texture. 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.

Scientific name
Anaxyrus quercicus
Family
Bufonidae
In North America
Native
Range
NatureServe lists it in the southeastern coastal plain: Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Biology

How to identify it

Smallest toad in North America, 1.9-3.3 cm, with a short head, pointed nose and flat body. [1][2]

Black or brown with a long pale dorsal stripe (white, cream, yellow or orange) and 4-5 pairs of dark blotches; fine reddish bumps give a rough texture. [1][2]

Elongated teardrop-shaped parotoid glands; grey-white, unblotched underside; males have dusky throats. [1][2]

Adults can be mistaken for half-grown southern toads. [1][2]

Compared with the southern toad: Adult oak toads are often mistaken for half-grown southern toads; the oak toad is only 1.9-3.3 cm with a long pale dorsal stripe and teardrop-shaped parotoid glands. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a oak toad before you act. Compared with the southern toad: Adult oak toads are often mistaken for half-grown southern toads; the oak toad is only 1.9-3.3 cm with a long pale dorsal stripe and teardrop-shaped parotoid glands.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Sandy pine flatwoods, oak scrub, open pine and pine-oak woods, savannas with sandy soil and maritime forest, favouring open-canopy pine flatwoods with grassy cover; eggs and larvae develop in rain pools, ditches and flatwoods ponds. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

More diurnal than most toads, sheltering by day buried in sand or under leaves or rocks; solitary outside breeding, when it may call at night. [1][2]

Male call is a high-pitched, bird-like chirp. [1][2]

Eats small terrestrial insects and arthropods such as ants and beetles; most active during the breeding period. [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

NatureServe lists it in the southeastern coastal plain: Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

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