. The biology of the amphibia. Amphibians. RELATIONSHIPS AND CLASSIFICATION 501 bufonid Werneria. Rhinophrynus dorsalis is a round-bodied, smooth-skinned toad with a very small pointed head. Its coloration of pink and brown gives it a somewhat pathological appearance. Its toes are partly webbed, and an enormous cornified tubercle or "spade" covers the prehallux. The first toe is peculiar in that it possesses only one phalanx beyond the metatarsal and this is converted into a shovel-like segment. The sacral diapophyses are only moderately dilated. It is remarkable that the burrowing S
. The biology of the amphibia. Amphibians. RELATIONSHIPS AND CLASSIFICATION 501 bufonid Werneria. Rhinophrynus dorsalis is a round-bodied, smooth-skinned toad with a very small pointed head. Its coloration of pink and brown gives it a somewhat pathological appearance. Its toes are partly webbed, and an enormous cornified tubercle or "spade" covers the prehallux. The first toe is peculiar in that it possesses only one phalanx beyond the metatarsal and this is converted into a shovel-like segment. The sacral diapophyses are only moderately dilated. It is remarkable that the burrowing Salientia of the same body form as Rhinophry- nus may have either cylindrical, slightly dilated or enormously dilated sacral diapophyses. Rhinophrynus, like many other specialized burrowers, feeds largely on termites. Subfamily 5. Bufoninae: True Toads.—Bufonidae without maxillary teeth, sacral diapophyses dilated, sternum cartilaginous. Fig. 160.—Nectophrynoides vivipara, a viviparous toad of East Africa. or calcified, omosternum absent or, if present, cartilaginous. The Bufoninae represent very probably an unnatural group of toads showing closest affinities to the Criniinae. Except for Bufo, they are confined to Africa and southern Asia. The most primi- tive genus is Nectophrynoides (Fig. 160) of East Africa, which differs from Pseudophryne of Australia in its larger head, wider sacrum, and larger omosternum. Further, its vertebral column is typically procoelous, the notochord is not retained, and the intervertebral discs are not loosely attached as in Pseudophryne. It differs remarkably from Pseudophryne in embracing the only ovoviviparous Salientia in the world (see page 74). Necto- phryne of Africa, the Malay Peninsula, and the western part of the Indo-Australian Archipelago differs in the loss of the omosternum, and in the flattened, T-shaped terminal phalanges (spatulated). Some of the East Indian species seem to grade into Bufo ( Please note that these images ar
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