Common toad
Scientific name: Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758)
Overview
The common toad, also known as European toad or simply the toad in Anglophone parts of Europe, is a toad found throughout most of Europe, western North Asia and a small part of Northwest Africa. It belongs to a group of closely related species descended from a common ancestral line of toads and forming a species complex. The toad is an inconspicuous animal, usually lying hidden during the day. It becomes active at dusk, hunting the invertebrates on which it feeds at night. It moves with a slow, ungainly walk or by jumping short distances, and has greyish-brown skin covered with wart-like lumps.
From the Wikipedia article “Common toad”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: Africa; Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China).
Common names
Also known in English as European Toad.
Names in other languages (11)
- Arabic
- ضفدع الجبل
- Chinese
- 大蟾蜍
- French
- Crapaud commun, Crapaud vulgaire
- German
- Erdkröte
- Indonesian
- Katak-puru eropa
- Japanese
- ヨーロッパヒキガエル
- Persian
- بوفو بوفو
- Portuguese
- Sapo-comum
- Russian
- Обыкновенная жаба
- Spanish
- Sapo común
- Turkish
- Kara kurbağası, Siğilli kurbağa
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q146375, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Common toad”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Taka, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — Mapa_Bufo_bufo.png: Osado derivative work: B kimmel (talk), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026