Passive and active defense in toads: the parotoid macroglands in Rhinella marina and Rhaebo guttatus

Amphibians have many skin poison glands used in passive defense, in which the aggressor causes its own poisoning when biting prey. In some amphibians the skin glands accumulate in certain regions forming macroglands, such as the parotoids of toads. We have discovered that the toad Rhaebo guttatus is able to squirt jets of poison towards the aggressor, contradicting the typical amphibian defense. We studied the R. guttatus chemical defense, comparing it with Rhinella marina, a sympatric species showing typical toad passive defense. We found that only in R. guttatus the parotoid is adhered to the scapula and do not have a calcified dermal layer. In addition, in this species, the plugs obstructing the glandular ducts are more fragile when compared to R. marina. As a consequence, the manual pressure necessary to extract the poison from the parotoid is twice as high in R. marina when compared to that used in R. guttatus. Compared to R. marina, the poison of R. guttatus is less lethal, induces edema and provokes nociception four times more intense. We concluded that the ability of R. guttatus to voluntary squirt poison is directly related to its stereotyped defensive behavior, together with the peculiar morphological characteristics of its parotoids. Since R. guttatus poison is practically not lethal, it is possibly directed to predators' learning, causing disturbing effects such as pain and edema. The unique mechanism of defense of R. guttatus may mistakenly justify the popular myth that toads, in general, squirt poison into people's eyes.