Field Guide

Unlike other true toads in Missouri, the Great Plains toad has a raised hump between the eyes on the snout. Look for it along the Missouri River floodplain, from the Iowa border to about Hermann.

Fowler's toad is the common toad of gravel and sand bars along our many Ozark streams and rivers. It is also the most common toad in the Bootheel lowlands.

The Rocky Mountain toad has a number of irregular dark brown or black spots on the back and a white belly. It occurs in the Missouri River floodplain, mostly from the central to the far northwestern parts of the state.

The plains spadefoot is a stout, toadlike amphibian with large, protruding eyes, vertically oval pupils, short legs, and large feet. There is a raised area between the eyes. It occurs in counties along the Missouri River.

With its stout body and thick forearms, the rare Illinois chorus frog may at first appear more like a toad. It lives in open, sandy areas that were formerly sand prairie grasslands and wetlands of southeastern Missouri.

The upland chorus frog is a small gray or tan frog with dark dorsal stripes that are narrow or broken into a series of dashes or spots. In Missouri, it occurs only in the southeastern portion, including the southeastern Ozark Highlands as well as the Mississippi Alluvial Basin.

Blanchard's cricket frog is a nonclimbing member of the treefrog family. It lacks the adhesive toe pads associated with treefrogs. It occurs statewide. The call is a metallic “gick, gick, gick.”

Prairie racerunners are fast, alert, ground-dwelling lizards. They live in open areas like fields, grasslands, and rocky, south-facing hillsides, including Ozark glades. They are related to the whiptail lizards that live in the western United States.

The prairie lizard is a small, gray to brown, rough-scaled lizard common in open forests. It often lives around country homes and rock gardens and on stacks of firewood and split rail fences.

The eastern collared lizard is colorful and has a long tail. In Missouri, this species is mostly restricted to rocky glade habitats in the southern half of the state.