Overview
- Paleontologists have formally described a new Pleistocene spadefoot toad, Spea labreae, based on an incomplete sacro-urostyle bone from the La Brea Tar Pits collection.
- The fossil was first collected in the 1950s and was reexamined by paleoecologist J. Alberto Cruz, who compared it with about 80 reference specimens to confirm it as a distinct species.
- The study, published Aug. 5, 2026, places the specimen at roughly 45,000 years old through stratigraphic association with co-occurring dated deposits rather than direct dating of the fragile bone.
- Researchers also report the first southwestern U.S. record of the Mexican burrowing toad (Rhinophrynus), a find that implies a roughly 1,500-mile historical northward range shift compared with modern populations.
- Authors say the rare amphibian fossils offer fine-scale evidence of past temperature and moisture because amphibians move little and depend on local water, and the discovery underscores the ongoing scientific value of museum archives for climate and conservation research.