---
title: "Bufo alvarius"
description: "Incilius alvarius — Anfíbios. The Colorado River toad (Incilius alvarius), (previously Bufo alvarius) also known as the Sonoran Desert toad, is a toad species found in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pt/animal/sonoran-desert-toad
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Bufo alvarius

> Incilius alvarius — Anfíbios. The Colorado River toad (Incilius alvarius), (previously Bufo alvarius) also known as the Sonoran Desert toad, is a toad species found in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

- Scientific name: *Incilius alvarius*
- Category: `amphibians` (Anfíbios)
- Habitats: `desert` (Deserto)
- iNaturalist observations: 5475
- Wikidata: [Q10534901](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10534901)
- iNaturalist taxon: [65828](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/65828)

## Names

- en: Sonoran Desert Toad
- de: Colorado-Kröte
- es: Sapo del desierto de Sonora
- fr: Crapaud du désert
- pt: Bufo alvarius

## Countries with the most observations

US (4539), MX (536)

## Summary

The Colorado River toad (Incilius alvarius), (previously Bufo alvarius) also known as the Sonoran Desert toad, is a toad species found in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It is well known for its ability to exude toxins from glands within its skin that have psychoactive properties.  
The toad's scientific name used to be Bufo alvarius, the name for which the toad is generally colloquially still known as. In the early 2000s, the increasingly important role of molecular genetic techniques in taxonomy and their ability to examine phylogenetic relationships allowed scientists to discover numerous…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_toad

## Photo

![Bufo alvarius](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/sonoran-desert-toad/medium.jpg)

Photo: Debra Miyamoto · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/176901758

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/sonoran-desert-toad?lang=pt` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).