Overview
- Researchers reexamining the Hancock Collection at Rancho La Brea identified and formally described a new spadefoot toad species, Spea labreae, in a Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology paper published Wednesday, August 5, 2026.
- The species diagnosis rests on an incomplete sacro‑urostyle pelvic bone that the authors say is morphologically distinct and about 7 percent larger than living Spea relatives.
- The authors estimate a Late Pleistocene age of roughly 45,000 years by stratigraphic association but did not perform direct radiocarbon dating to avoid destroying the fragile holotype.
- The same reassessment produced the first Rancho La Brea record of the Mexican burrowing toad (Rhinophrynus), extending that taxon’s Pleistocene range roughly 1,500 miles north of its modern populations.
- Because amphibians remain close to water and are sensitive to temperature and moisture, these rare fossils provide high‑resolution clues about local Ice Age climate and suggest that further study of museum archives could change understanding of past ecosystems and modern conservation risks.