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SpeciesAnuraPipidae
Amphibians

🐸Surinam toad

Pipa pipa (Linnaeus, 1758)

The common Surinam toad, the Suriname toad, or star-fingered toad, is a fully-aquatic species of frog, in the family Pipidae, with a widespread range across much of tropical South America and the island of Trinidad. The females of this species are well-known for "incubating" their eggs on their backs, in honeycomb-like depressions directly within the skin, releasing fully-formed froglets after a period of 4–5 months. Pipa pipa is an ambush predator, lying in-wait underwater for prey to inevitably wander too close, swiftly inhaling the unsuspecting creature using suction feeding. Additionally, the Surinam toad's rather flat body shape, combined with rather dark, dull coloration, serves as effective camouflage in the murky waters they inhabit, perfectly mimicking a dead leaf or piece of rotting wood as they await their next meal.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Measurements
5
vs you
≈ 1/310th of your weight
Also called
Suriname toad
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2023.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
0.2 kg
Body length
0.17 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
7.7 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Surinam toad

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.2 kg
AmphiBIO
Details ↓

Source: AmphiBIO · v1 (Oliveira et al. 2017) · CC BY 4.0

Body length
0.17 m
AmphiBIO
Details ↓

Source: AmphiBIO · v1 (Oliveira et al. 2017) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
7.7 yearsrecord 7.7 years · AmphiBIO
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Diet
arthropods, vertebrates
AmphiBIO
Details ↓

Source: AmphiBIO · v1 (Oliveira et al. 2017) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.2 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Surinam toad yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAmphibia
  4. ›orderAnura
  5. ›familyPipidae
  6. ›genusPipa
  7. ›speciesPipa pipa
Full lineage
  1. classAmphibians · Amphibia
  2. orderFrogs & toads · Anura
  3. familyPipidae
  4. genusPipa
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classAmphibians · Amphibia
  9. superorderBatrachia
  10. orderFrogs & toads · Anura
  11. superfamilyPipoidea
  12. familyPipidae
  13. genusPipa
More

More about the Surinam toad

In other languages
Pipa pipa (es), pipabéka (hu), calàpet de Surinam (ca), pipa americká (cs), Große Wabenkröte (de), Pipa pipa (fr) … and 19 more languages
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