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What the sources say

Surinam ToadPipa pipa

Every figure, record and mechanism on the Surinam Toad profile was written from a source, and this is the working table behind it: 51 claims checked word for word against these sources. The left column is what the page says. The right column is the source's own words, copied, not paraphrased; a ... marks a cut and[brackets] an insertion. Open any source and check it yourself.

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Source
01

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance

Surinam Toad. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

The page saysMuddy-bottomed rivers, ponds, swamps, and flooded forest across Amazonian South America and Trinidad
The source saysperfectly camouflaged to live an aquatic life on muddy river bottoms in rainforest and flooded forest areas in South AmericaNote: Trinidad comes from usgs-nas-surinam-toad's range list and adw-surinam-toad's 'inhabits the eastern region of South America, and Trinidad'; ponds and swamps from adw-surinam-toad 'living in murky ponds and swamps'; Amazonian from suction-2017 'an Amazonian frog that can catch fish'
The page saysMostly crustaceans, small fish, worms, and other invertebrates
The source sayseats mostly crustaceans, small fish, worms, and other invertebrates
The page saysSubcutaneous honeycomb egg incubation and whole-trunk suction feeding
The source saysher skin grows up and around the eggs, forming a honeycomb structure of pocketsNote: whole-trunk suction feeding is claimed separately from suction-2017 below
The page saysThe flat, leaf-like toad that carries its developing young inside honeycomb pockets on the mother's back
The source saysyou'd think it was a leaf or a rock, and that's the idea! Its body is flat ... forming a honeycomb structure of pockets ... continuing to develop under her skin
The page saysThe Surinam toad can live up to 8 years
The source saysUp to 8 years
The page saysIts body is flat, its head is a triangle
The source saysIts body is flat, its head is triangular
The page saysits mottled brown, tan, or olive skin makes it look like a lump of leaf litter rather than living wildlife
The source saysThe toad's skin is pointy, rough, and colored a mottled brown, tan, or olive ... It looks like a lump of leaf litter rather than living wildlife!
The page saysIt measures 10 to 20 centimeters long
The source sayscan measure between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) long
The page saysweighs 100 to 160 grams
The source saysWeight: 3.5 to 5.6 ounces (100 to 160 grams)
The page saysIt hunts by ambush, lying in wait until a fish, worm, or crustacean passes, then lunging forward to eat it in one gulp
The source saysan ambush hunter, lying patiently in wait for unsuspecting prey to pass by. The toad eats mostly crustaceans, small fish, worms ... it lunges forward and eats its prey in one gulp
The page saysWith no teeth and no tongue, it relies on its large mouth to swallow food whole
The source saysThe toad does not have teeth or a tongue, so its large mouth helps it swallow food whole
The page saysIt senses movement through its star-tipped front fingers
The source saysWhen the Surinam toad senses movement with its star-tipped fingers
The page saysReproduction starts with an underwater courtship: the male clicks to call a female
The source saysMales call to the females by making a clicking sound underwater
The page saysshe releases 60 to 100 eggs, which he fertilizes and presses onto her back
The source saysA willing female releases 60 to 100 eggs, and the male fertilizes them and pushes the eggs onto her back, where they stick to her skin
The page saysOver the next few days, her skin grows up around the eggs until a honeycomb of pockets encloses them completely
The source saysDuring the next few days, her skin grows up and around the eggs, forming a honeycomb structure of pockets, and eventually encloses them completely
The page saysAfter three to four months, the toadlets squirm free, and their mother then sheds her skin
The source saysthe young ride on her back for three to four months ... the fully formed toadlets push and squirm to loosen the female's skin ... The mother then sheds her skin
The page saysThey push and squirm to loosen her skin until the pockets on her back open, showing each toadlet's snout and waving feet
The source saysthe fully formed toadlets push and squirm to loosen the female's skin; the pockets on her back open up to reveal the snouts and waving feet of the toadlets
The page saysThe young then pop out of their holes and head for the surface to breathe
The source saysthey pop out of their holes and head for the water's surface to breathe
The page saysthey can start snapping at food straight away
The source saysThe little toads can start snapping at food right away
The page saysTheir mother sheds her skin afterward, ready for the next breeding season
The source saysThe mother then sheds her skin, ready for the next breeding season
The page saysBecause that is its disguise. Lying motionless in the water, it can pass for a leaf or a rock
The source saysMotionless in the water, you'd think it was a leaf or a rock, and that's the idea!
The page saysdown to the rough, pointy skin and the nostrils set at the end of two narrow tubes on its snout
The source saysits nostrils are at the end of two narrow tubes on its snout. The toad's skin is pointy, rough
The page saysIt looks so little like a meal that predators may pass it by
The source saysit doesn't look much like a meal, so predators may pass it by
The page saysThe Toad That Looks Like Leaf Litter
The source saysIt looks like a lump of leaf litter rather than living wildlife!
The page saysEggs That Hatch Inside Her Skin
The source saysNewly hatched Surinam toads develop under the skin of their mother's back

Source
02

Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan 1999

Pipa pipa. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan, 1999.

The page saysEach finger ends in a four-lobed, star-shaped organ, one of the traits that distinguish this species from others
The source saysforelimbs are short with webless digits that each end in a star-shaped organ. These quadripartite fingertips are one of the characteristics that distinguish Pipa pipa from other species.
The page saysthen grips her from above
The source saysMales grasps the female from above and around the waist in inguinal amplexus
The page saysThere is no tadpole stage: the young develop inside those pockets and emerge as miniature adults
The source saysthere is no larval stage. The female carries the eggs in a honeycomb structure on her back until they complete development and emerge as miniature adults

Source
03

USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database 2013

Pipa pipa (Linnaeus, 1758). USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, 2013.

The page saysspends its life on the muddy bottoms of rivers, ponds, and flooded forest across Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago
The source saysNative Range: South America: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela

Source
04

Cundall, Fernandez & Irish 2017

Cundall, Fernandez & Irish (2017). The suction mechanism of the pipid frog, Pipa pipa (Linnaeus, 1758). Journal of Morphology.

The page saysA Whole Trunk Built for Suction
The source saysthe urostyle and sacral vertebra are protracted and slide forward on the pelvic girdle, thereby elongating the entire trunk
The page saysMost suction-feeding, water-dwelling vertebrates create suction by rapidly enlarging the mouth and pharynx, powered by muscles that pull back the hyoid and the gill-arch bones behind it
The source saysMost suction-feeding, aquatic vertebrates create suction by rapidly enlarging the oral cavity and pharynx. Forceful enlargement of the pharynx is powered by longitudinal muscles that retract skeletal elements of the hyoid, more caudal branchial arches
The page saysPipa pipa lacks that arrangement
The source saysThis arrangement was thought to characterize all suction-feeding vertebrates. However, it does not exist in the permanently aquatic, tongueless Pipa pipa
The page saysIts hyoid is not attached to the skull
The source saysthe hyoid apparatus is not connected to the skull
The page saysthe main muscle that pulls it arises from the thigh bone rather than the shoulder
The source saysThe major retractor of the hyoid apparatus arises not from the pectoral girdle but from the femur
The page saysAs the toad feeds, that pull combines with the lower spine sliding forward on the hips
The source saysRetraction of the hyoid is coupled with expansion of the anterior trunk, which occurs when the hypertrophied ventral pectoral elements are depressed and the urostyle and sacral vertebra are protracted and slide forward on the pelvic girdle
The page saysits mouth and throat can expand to a volume potentially equal to the toad's entire resting body
The source saysexpand the buccopharyngeal cavity to a volume potentially equal to that of the entire resting body of the frog
The page saysResearchers think Pipa may be the only group of four-limbed animals that enlarges its whole trunk to feed this way
The source saysPipa may be the only tetrapod vertebrate clade that enlarges its entire trunk during suction-feeding
The page saysIt feeds by suction
The source saysfundamental features of tetrapod body design are altered to allow P. pipa to suction-feed
The page saysIn most suction feeders, muscles pull back the hyoid and the gill arches to widen the throat, an arrangement once thought to hold for every suction-feeding vertebrate
The source saysMost suction-feeding, aquatic vertebrates create suction by rapidly enlarging the oral cavity and pharynx. Forceful enlargement of the pharynx is powered by longitudinal muscles that retract skeletal elements of the hyoid, more caudal branchial arches, and, in many fish, the pectoral girdle. This arrangement was thought to characterize all suction-feeding vertebrates
The page saysThe Surinam toad's hyoid sits inside its shoulder girdle instead, its main retractor muscle arises from the thigh bone, and pulling it back also expands the front of the toad's trunk
The source saysthe hyoid apparatus is not connected to the skull and is enclosed by the pectoral girdle. The major retractor of the hyoid apparatus arises not from the pectoral girdle but from the femur ... Retraction of the hyoid is coupled with expansion of the anterior trunk

Source
05

Meredith et al. 2026

Meredith et al. (2026). A somatosensory fovea in the fingertips of the Surinam toad. Journal of Comparative Physiology A.

The page saysFingertips Like a Star-Nosed Mole's Snout
The source sayssomatosensory foveae-specialized mechanoreceptive organs analogous to the tactile fovea of the star-nosed mole
The page saysA 2026 study counted 128 tiny lobules across each toad's fingertips
The source saysSEM reveals a progressive quadrification yielding 128 terminal lobules per frogNote: 128 is per frog, across all its fingertips, as the abstract says; 2026 is the paper's year
The page sayscovered in dome-shaped bumps at nearly four times the density found on the rest of the finger
The source saysbearing dome-shaped papillae at 142 ± 18/mm 2 -nearly fourfold the density on adjacent digit shaft skin
The page saysHigh-speed video showed the toads starting to feed before a fish touched their fingers, which suggests they sense the water it disturbs from about 5 millimeters away
The source saysHigh-speed behavioral recordings under visible light, infrared, and cobalt-blocked lateral line conditions demonstrate that frogs initiate suction feeding before prey fish contact the digits, indicating detection of hydrodynamic disturbances at short range (~ 5 mm)
The page saysA magnified fingertip in the brain
The source saysthe digit tips are somatotopically represented and disproportionately magnified
The page saysThe Surinam toad's fingertip lobes take up 34% of the forelimb's map in its brain, though they cover only 8% of the forelimb's surface
The source saysoccupying 34% of the forelimb representation despite comprising only 8% of forelimb surface area (magnification factor: 4.3×)
The page saysTheir lobule tips have the lowest touch threshold measured on the forelimb, a median of 0.07 millinewtons
The source saysDistal lobule tips have the lowest mechanical thresholds on the forelimb (median 0.07 mN)
The page sayssome of the nerve fibres serving them also respond to water currents
The source sayslow-threshold, predominantly rapidly adapting mechanoreceptive afferents with small receptive fields confined to the lobules, some also responsive to water current stimulation
The page saysIn the brain, the fingertips are magnified 4.3 times relative to their share of the forelimb's surface
The source saysoccupying 34% of the forelimb representation despite comprising only 8% of forelimb surface area (magnification factor: 4.3×)
The page saysThe study's authors liken them to the touch organ on the star-nosed mole's snout
The source saysThese results establish the digit tip lobes of Pipa pipa as somatosensory foveae-specialized mechanoreceptive organs analogous to the tactile fovea of the star-nosed mole

Source
06

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023

Pipa pipa. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T58163A85900348.

The page saysthe IUCN lists it as a species of Least Concern
The source saysIUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC).

How the table was made: a writer drafted the profile from these sources and logged each claim with its quote, a reviewer with nothing but this table checked every sentence said no more than its quote, and a script confirmed each quote appears word for word in the source. The method is in the site'sAbout page.