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The cane toad (''Rhinella marina''), also known as the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, is a large, terrestrial true toad which is native to Central and South America, but has been introduced to various islands throughout Oceania and the Caribbean, as well as northern Australia. It is a member of the genus ''Rhinella'', but was formerly in the genus ''Bufo'', which includes many different true toad species found throughout Central and South America. The cane toad is a prolific breeder; females lay single-clump spawns with thousands of eggs. Its reproductive success is partly because of opportunistic feeding: it has a diet, unusual among anurans, of both dead and living matter. Adults average in length; the largest recorded specimen weighed 2.65 kg (5.8 lb) with a length of from snout to vent. The cane toad is an old species. A fossil toad (specimen UCMP 41159) from the La Venta fauna of the late Miocene of Colombia is indistinguishable from modern cane toads from northern South America.〔Estes, Richard and Richard Wassersurg (1963). (A Miocene toad from Colombia, South America ). ''Breviora'', 193:1-13, December 5.〕 It was discovered in a floodplain deposit, which suggests the ''R. marina'' habitat preferences have always been for open areas.〔Zug, George R., and Patricia B. Zug (1979). (The Marine Toad, ''Bufo marinus'': A Natural History Resume of Native Populations ). ''Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology'', number 284, 58 pages.〕 The cane toad has poison glands, and the tadpoles are highly toxic to most animals if ingested. Because of its voracious appetite, the cane toad has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific and the Caribbean islands as a method of agricultural pest control. The species derives its common name from its use against the cane beetle (''Dermolepida albohirtum''). The cane toad is now considered a pest and an invasive species in many of its introduced regions; of particular concern is its toxic skin, which kills many animals—native predators and otherwise—when ingested. ==Taxonomy== Originally, the cane toads were used to eradicate pests from sugarcane, giving rise to their common name. The cane toad has many other common names, including "giant toad" and "marine toad"; the former refers to its size and the latter to the binomial name, ''R. marina''. It was one of many species described by Linnaeus in his 18th-century work ''Systema Naturae'' (1758). Linnaeus based the specific epithet ''marina'' on an illustration by Dutch zoologist Albertus Seba, who mistakenly believed the cane toad to inhabit both terrestrial and marine environments. Other common names include "giant neotropical toad", "Dominican toad", "giant marine toad", and "South American cane toad". In Trinidadian English, they are commonly called ''crapaud'', the French word for toad. The genus ''Rhinella'' is considered to constitute a distinct genus of its own, thus changing the scientific name of the cane toad. In this case, the specific name ''marinus'' (masculine) changes to ''marina'' (feminine) to conform with the rules of gender agreement as set out by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, changing the binomial name from ''Bufo marinus'' to ''Rhinella marina''; the binomial ''Rhinella marinus'' was subsequently introduced as a synonym through misspelling by Pramuk, Robertson, Sites, and Noonan (2008).〔〔 Though controversial (with many traditional herpetologists still using ''Bufo marinus'') the binomial ''Rhinella marina'' is gaining in acceptance with such bodies as the IUCN, Encyclopaedia of Life,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Encyclopaedia of Life )〕 Amphibian Species of the World 〔 and increasing numbers of scientific publications adopting its usage. In Australia, the adults may be confused with large native frogs from the genera ''Limnodynastes'', ''Cyclorana'', and ''Mixophyes''. These species can be distinguished from the cane toad by the absence of large parotoid glands behind their eyes and the lack of a ridge between the nostril and the eye. Cane toads have been confused with the giant burrowing frog (''Heleioporus australiacus''), because both are large and warty in appearance; however, the latter can be readily distinguished from the former by its vertical pupils and its silver-grey (as opposed to gold) irises. Juvenile cane toads may be confused with species of the ''Uperoleia'' genus, but their adult colleagues can be distinguished by the lack of bright colouring on the groin and thighs. In the United States, the cane toad closely resembles many bufonid species. In particular, it could be confused with the southern toad (''Bufo terrestris''), which can be distinguished by the presence of two bulbs in front of the parotoid glands. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cane toad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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