What are the differences between frogs and toads? A quick guide to telling them apart

Frogs are amphibians of the family Ranidae in the order Anura, tailless as adults and feeding mainly on insects and other invertebrates. Toads, also known as scabby toads, warty toads, and toads, have many bumps on the body surface containing venom glands. In China they are divided into two species, the Chinese toad and the black-spectacled toad. Let's take a look below at the differences between frogs and toads!

Differences in family and genus between frogs and toads

1. Frog: The frog is an amphibian of the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Amphibia, order Anura, suborder Neobatrachia, family Dicroglossidae, genus Hoplobatrachus.

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.

Differences between frog and toad tadpoles

1. Frog: Frog tadpoles are mostly rather scattered, lighter in body color, with a slightly rounded body, a long tail, and the mouth at the front end of the head.

2. Toad: Toad tadpoles usually gather in dense groups, with a black body and a lighter tail, an oval body shape, a short tail, and the mouth on the front ventral side of the head; they are smaller in size than frog tadpoles.

Differences in appearance between frogs and toads

1. Frog: The frog has a flat head, slightly triangular, with a somewhat pointed snout tip, a wide mouth with a horizontal slit formed by the upper and lower jaws. The male frog has a light brown membrane fold behind the corner of the mouth on each side, which is the vocal sac and puffs up into a bubble shape when calling. The trunk is short and wide, and between the two legs at the rear end, slightly toward the dorsal side, there is a small opening, the cloacal opening. The feet have four toes, the hind feet have five toes, and there are also webbed feet.

2. Toad: The toad has many bumps on the body surface containing venom glands. The average body length is about 60 mm, and the largest female can reach 80 mm. The head is wider than it is long, the snout tip is round, the snout ridge is prominent, and the cheeks slant outward. The distance between the nostrils is slightly smaller than the distance between the eyes, the upper eyelid is wide and slightly larger than the eye spacing, and the tympanum is prominent and oval. Males have rough skin, with warts of varying sizes densely covering the head, upper eyelids, and back; females have fewer warts. The parotoid glands are large and flat.

Differences in medicinal effects between frogs and toads

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 urination and reducing swelling, clearing heat and detoxifying, and tonifying deficiency. It mainly treats edema, distension, jaundice, mumps, heat sores in children, dysentery, malnutrition in children, consumptive fever, and postpartum weakness.

2. Toad: The toad is fishy in taste and warm in nature, and toxic, entering the heart meridian. It has the effects of detoxifying, relieving pain, and opening the orifices. It mainly treats boils, carbuncles on the back, deep-rooted yin abscesses and scrofula, malignant sores, abdominal masses and accumulations, tympanites, edema, malnutrition in children, and chronic bronchitis.