It has light sacral and mid-dorsal patches, large, oval and widely separated parotoid glands, and weak or absent cranial crests.

The arroyo toad inhabits these areas alongside creeks and rivers with shallow pebble-like rocks near sandy terrains.

Recent research has shown that the arroyo toad is highly sensitive to changes in water quality, making it a vital species for environmental monitoring.

When hunting for food the toad lunges towards the targets, usually ants, and extends its large sticky tongue to trap and consume them.

[3] During the dry season the arroyo toad goes into a state of hibernation called aestivation to prevent dehydration.

They mate in an amplexus position, and the female toad returns to the location to lay her eggs by the water.

[5] If a human comes in contact with the toad's skin symptoms include: serious irritation and pain to the throat, eyes, nose, and mouth, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, seizures and paralysis, vomiting, hallucinations or even death.

The American Bullfrog has a tendency to prey on males during their mating calls, and will attack toads while they are in amplex thereby preventing reproduction rates in the population.

It has been extirpated from an estimated 75% of its former range in the U.S.[1] The most important threats to the arroyo toad stem from human activities.

[6][7] These activities include encroachment by agriculture, construction of roads, off-road vehicle use, grazing by livestock and mining.

In 2000, developer Rancher Viejo, which wished to build on a site that the toads used as a habitat, sued the Secretary of the Interior over whether the department was constitutionally authorized to apply the Endangered Species Act to prevent the development in order to protect a species that never crossed state lines.

The developer's challenge to the law failed, but in his dissent to the ruling then-Judge and later-Chief Justice John Roberts famously expressed his puzzlement that "regulating the taking of a hapless toad that, for reasons of his own, lives its entire life in California constitutes regulating 'commerce...among the several states'.

"[8] On March 27, 2014, the Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended the arroyo toad's status be downgraded from Endangered to Threatened.

The agency stated that the arroyo toad still faces "significant threats", in particular operation of dams and water diversions, urban development, introduced predator species, and drought.

However, they felt that conditions had improved, saying, "The overall magnitude of threats impacting the arroyo toad has decreased since the time of listing, due in part to implementation of conservation and management actions.