Great Basin spadefoot (Spea intermontana) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 1

Assessment Summary

Assessment Summary April 2007

Common name : Great Basin Spadefoot

Scientific name : Spea intermontana

Status : Threatened

Reason for designation : This small, rotund, toad-like amphibian has under each hind foot a prominent tubercle, or “spade”, which it uses for burrowing. The species has a restricted distribution in Canada in the semi-arid and arid areas of southern interior British Columbia. Parts of this region are experiencing rapid loss and alteration of critical habitats for the spadefoot, including loss of breeding sites, because of urban and suburban expansion, increased agriculture and viticulture, and the introduction of alien fish species and disease. The protected areas it inhabits are losing surrounding natural buffer habitats due to encroaching agricultural and housing developments. In consequence, available habitat in some parts of the range is becoming fragmented, resulting in increased local extinction probabilities for the sites that remain. Although spadefoots may use artificial habitats for breeding, there is evidence that such habitats may be ecological traps from which there may be little or no recruitment.

Occurrence : British Columbia

Status history : Designated Special Concern in April 1998. Status re-examined and designated Threatened in November 2001 and in April 2007. Last assessment based on an update status report.

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