New Ice Age Toad Species Discovered at La Brea Tar Pits

A new species of extinct spadefoot toad has been discovered from fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, named Spea labreae. This marks the first extinct Ice Age amphibian found at this site and the second of its kind in North America. The research, published on August 4 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, was conducted by paleoecologists J. Alberto Cruz and Emily Lindsey. The fossils, unearthed in 1929, were analyzed alongside specimens from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Distinct characteristics in the sacro-urostyle bone helped identify the species. Additionally, remains of a Mexican burrowing toad, not previously recorded at La Brea, were found, with living relatives located 1,500 miles away in southern Mexico. Although the exact age of the toad remains uncertain, it is believed to be at least 45,000 years old, dating back to the last Ice Age (11,700 to 2.6 million years ago). This finding underscores the significance of small fossils in revealing insights about ancient ecosystems.