Adults tend to be gray-green and tan to white or yellowish dorsally, with enlarged elliptical parotoids, a light mid-dorsal vertebral stripe and dark contrasting dorsal spots. The Fowler's toads tend to have more than 2 warts per dark spot, (American toads have 1 or 2) which are sometimes red, and have an immaculate creamy white ventral surface. Occasionally one olive or black pectoral spot is present. Males have ventro-mandibular melanism (darkened throats), spherical vocal sacs, and are persistent callers throughout the breeding season (Conant and Collins 1991; Klemens 1993; Wright and Wright 1949). Metamorphs and juveniles of Bufo woodhousii fowleri and Bufo americanus (American toad) are virtually indistinguishable because of undeveloped adult diagnostic characters, intraspecific morphological variation, and interspecific similarities (Klemens 1993).

Male Fowler's toad

DISTRIBUTION
The Fowler's toad is a fairly common species in many regions of the Atlantic Coastal Plain from Long Island to North Carolina. It is a facultative vernal pond breeder (Conant and Collins 1991; Kenney and Burne 2000) and also breeds in shallow regions of permanent bodies of water (Clarke 1974). The eastern range of B. w. fowleri encompasses southern New England and the Hudson Valley, to the west it extends through north-central Pennsylvania, southern Ontario, southeastern Michigan, and southern Illinois (Klemens 1993). The Fowler's toad is also found throughout the southern United States except the coastal plain of South Carolina, Georgia and peninsular Florida. Further to the west its range includes Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana (Klemens 1993). In these areas it intergrades with Bufo w. woodhousii which has an extensive range in the West and is replaced by Bufo woodhousii austrailis in the southwestern United States (Klemens 1993). Inland populations of B. w. fowleri have a spotty distribution and they occur chiefly in sandy habitats near the shorelines of lakes, or in river valleys (Conant and Collins 1991). In southern New England the Fowler's toad has an irregular distribution, favoring a variety of well-drained, xeric habitats and drier microhabitats in overlapping areas that harbor Bufo americanus (Klemens 1993). B. w. fowleri has been recorded in scarified, rocky, and poorly vegetated areas as well as dry, sandy deciduous woodlands (Klemens 1993). The Fowler's toad's easternmost habitats in Connecticut are directly adjacent to Rhode Island.

In Rhode Island Fowler's toads have a widespread but discontinuous, scattered distribution (Figure 1), with individuals occurring in similar sandy outwash soils as it does in Connecticut (Blake and Raithel 1983). Its presence, as of 1983, has been confirmed in eastern Rhode Island (Little Compton and Portsmouth), central Rhode Island (West Greenwich and Coventry) and in northern Rhode Island (Scituate, Johnston, Mautucket and Smithfield) (Blake and Raithel 1983). Only one small population has been located in South County Rhode Island. This population was located in a 2.12 ha permanent pond in 1999 at Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge.

Figure 1. Fowler's toad distribution map. Records of Fowler's toads in Rhode Island (no records from Block Island). Dark dots indicate Fowler's toad records since 1983, triangles indicate historical records.