Is the toad (hama) a pest? Its differences from the frog and an analysis of its toxicity
The toad, also called hama. It belongs to the amphibians, and the frog is also an amphibian. Ordinarily, because their appearances are fairly similar, many friends are not too clear on how to tell these two animals apart, so is the toad a pest? What is the difference from the frog? Can its toxin kill a person?
The toad, commonly known as the warty toad, is an amphibian of the family Bufonidae. It is not only a guardian of agriculture that preys on pests, but also combines medicinal use, health care and food in one, and is therefore known as the “toad treasure”; it is a medicinal animal of very high economic value. So it is not a pest.
What is the difference between the toad and the frog?
1. The difference in family and genus between the frog and the toad
1. Frog: The frog is an amphibian of the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Amphibia, order Anura, suborder Neobatrachia, family Ranidae, genus Rana.
2. Toad: The toad is an amphibian of the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Amphibia, subclass Lissamphibia, order Anura, family Bufonidae, genus Bufo.
2. The difference between frog and toad tadpoles
1. Frog: Frog tadpoles are mostly fairly scattered, lighter in body color, with a slightly round body, a long tail, and the mouth at the front end of the head.
2. Toad: Toad tadpoles are usually densely clustered, with a black body and a lighter tail, an oval body shape, a short tail, and the mouth on the ventral side of the front end of the head; they are smaller in size than frog tadpoles.
3. The morphological differences between the frog and the toad
1. Compare the skin and body color
The frog has 2 longitudinal folds from behind the eyes to the base of the hind limbs, golden yellow or light brown in color. There is a light-colored longitudinal stripe in the center. The hind limbs have many transverse black markings. The frog's back is brown or yellow-green, and the ventral side is white. The toad's skin is rough, with warty protrusions of varying sizes densely covering the whole body. The back is dark brown, and the ventral side is cream yellow.
2. Observe the poison glands. The toad has abundant poison glands, divided into skin glands and parotoid glands. The skin glands are distributed on the back of the body, where the epidermis is locally thickened into “warts”. The parotoid glands are above the tympanic membrane on the sides of the head. Carefully pierce the parotoid gland with a needle, and a milky white toxic secretion flows out. The frog has no poison glands.
3. Observe the vocal sac. The male frog has a pair of vocal sacs behind the corners of the mouth; when it calls, air in the oral cavity is pressed into the vocal sacs, expanding them into a ball shape. The female frog has no vocal sacs. The toad, whether male or female, has no vocal sacs.
4. Compare the teeth and tongue. The frog has a row of small maxillary teeth on the edge of the upper jaw; on the vomer at the roof of the oral cavity there are also two rows of parallel transversely growing small nodular protrusions, called vomerine teeth. The toad has no teeth on either the upper or lower jaw. Pull out the frog's tongue, and its tip is forked; the toad's tongue tip is not forked.
5. Observe the connection between the ureters and the cloaca. The frog's 2 ureters each connect to the cloaca, and there are 2 openings on the cloacal wall; the toad's 2 ureters first merge into a single common ureter, then enter the cloaca, and there is only 1 opening on the cloacal wall.
6. Observe the connection between the oviducts and the cloaca. The frog's 2 oviducts also each connect to the cloaca; the toad's first merge and then communicate with the cloaca.
7. Compare the shoulder girdle. The frog's two epicoracoid bones are tightly connected in parallel without overlapping and cannot move in an interlocking way, which is called a firmisternal shoulder girdle; the toad's epicoracoid bones on both sides overlap each other and can move in an interlocking way, which is called an arciferal shoulder girdle. In front of the inner ends of the frog's two clavicles there is a rod-shaped omosternum, and in front of the omosternum there is also a semicircular cartilage, which is the episternum. The toad does not have these two bones.
8. Compare the vertebral centra. The frog's first 7 vertebral centra are all cylindrical, concave at the front end and convex at the rear end, which is called procoelous, while the 8th centrum is amphicoelous; the toad's first 8 vertebrae are all procoelous.
The toad's epidermis is keratinized, so it is relatively drought-tolerant and can move about in dry environments farther from water. Although the body colors of frogs and toads are different, they both have a protective effect in different living environments, and they vary greatly under environmental influence. The toad's jumping ability is far inferior to the frog's, but the poison glands protect it to a certain extent from being swallowed by carnivorous animals; such organs are protective organs. The male frog has a pair of vocal sacs, which are resonators for sound production. The frog's maxillary teeth are all homodont teeth; these teeth have no chewing function and only serve to prevent small animals from slipping out of the mouth. The presence or absence of teeth and their attachment position, whether the tongue tip is forked, and the types of shoulder girdle and vertebral centra are all bases for the classification of anurans. The differences in the way the ureters and oviducts connect to the cloaca in frogs and toads are often an easily overlooked point of difference in dissection.
4. The difference in medicinal effects between the frog and the toad
1. Frog: The frog is sweet in taste and cool in nature, entering the lung, spleen and bladder meridians; it has the effects of promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, clearing heat and detoxifying, and tonifying deficiency, and is mainly used for edema, abdominal distension, jaundice, mumps, heat sores in children, dysentery, malnutrition, consumptive fever, postpartum weakness and other conditions.
2. Toad: The toad is fishy in taste and warm in nature, toxic, and enters the heart meridian; it has the effects of detoxifying, relieving pain, and opening the orifices, and is mainly used for boils, dorsal carbuncles, deep-rooted yin carbuncles and scrofula, malignant sores, abdominal masses, tympanites, edema, malnutrition in children, chronic bronchitis and other conditions.
5. The difference between the tadpoles
1. Observe whether the tadpoles swimming in the water are densely clustered or fairly scattered. The former are often toad tadpoles, while the latter are mostly frog tadpoles.
2. Scoop the tadpoles up with a net, put them in a glass bottle to observe, or place them on the palm of the hand to observe. Those with a lighter body color, a slightly round body, a long tail, and the mouth at the front end of the head are frog tadpoles. Those with a black body and a lighter tail, an oval body shape, a short tail, and the mouth on the ventral side of the front end of the head are toad tadpoles.
3. Observe the front end of the tadpole's head with a magnifying glass; the arrangement of their horny fine teeth is also different. Below the lower lip they all have 3 rows of horny fine teeth, but the frog's upper row of teeth is interrupted, while the toad's 3 rows of fine teeth are all uninterrupted.
4. The vast majority seen around Qingming are toad tadpoles; frog tadpoles are not seen until about mid-May.
Warty toads must not be eaten carelessly! Nine out of ten who eat them are poisoned
Among the common people, scorpions, snakes, warty toads, geckos and centipedes are called the five poisons, so just how great is the warty toad's toxin?
The toad, commonly known as the warty toad, looks very much like a frog, and its outer skin is rougher than a frog's. It is a toxic animal; the white secretion produced by its parotid glands, blood vessels and skin glands and its eggs contain more than 30 kinds of toxic substances.
If processed or handled improperly, the toxin may enter the toad's flesh, and after people eat it they will experience symptoms such as dizziness, headache, vomiting and diarrhea, and in severe cases damage to organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys, and it may even lead to death. In fact, cases of death from eating warty toads are not uncommon every year; among them are those who ate them by mistake, and also those who believed folk remedies and specially caught them to eat.
Not only must they not be eaten carelessly, catching warty toads is also against the law!
Because the warty toad has certain medicinal value after specialized processing and extraction, this has also spurred many people to recklessly poach warty toads, but this too is illegal.
According to the forest police, the warty toad is a national “three-have” protected animal. According to China's criminal law and relevant legal provisions, for “three-have animals”, catching 1 (individual) without approval is illegal, catching 20 (individuals) or more constitutes a crime, catching 50 (individuals) or more is a serious circumstance, and catching 100 (individuals) or more is a particularly serious circumstance.