These adaptations include a small pointed snout and face, keratinized structures and a lack of webbing on front limbs, and specialized tongue morphology to assist in feeding on ants and termites underground.

The generic name Rhinophrynus means 'nose-toad', from rhino- (ῥῑνο-), the combining form of the Ancient Greek rhis (ῥίς, 'nose') and phrunē (φρύνη, 'toad').

[4] The Mexican burrowing toad diverged from other amphibians over 190 million years ago and has been evolving independently for a longer period of time than the evolutionary differences between mammals like humans, fruit bats, polar bears and killer whales.

[9] The toad's snout is covered in an armor of small keratinous spines, and its lips are sealed by secretions from glands under the mandible.

The Mexican burrowing toad is found in tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest, savannas, and thorn scrub (e.g. Tamaulipan mezquital) in the lowlands of Central America, Mexico, and extreme south Texas, USA.

Due to its wide range, the species is categorized as least concern by the IUCN,[1] but some local and regional populations are protected and listed as threatened by various governments within its distribution.

[12] Rhinophrynus dorsalis occurs in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, USA, ranging southward through the costal lowlands of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea in eastern Mexico including much of the Yucatán Peninsula, into northern Guatemala, Belize, extreme northwest Honduras, and an isolated record from northeast Nicaragua.

Another geographically isolated population occurs in the lowlands of the Pacific coast, from extreme southern Michoacán, Mexico, southward into coastal areas of Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and northwest Costa Rica.

Its eggs and larvae develop in temporary pools formed by heavy rains, and the adults remain in fairly small areas.

[17] When the frog is making its vocalization or when it is alarmed its body becomes inflated and resembles a balloon, with its already short head and limbs almost disappearing.

This explosive breeding combined with the ecological condition of dry seasonal forests have influenced the evolution of their courtship behavior and male-female interactions.

There is size sexual dimorphism in this species with females being larger than males, and male-male contests are largely absent during the short breeding period.

Due to the absence of male-male competition and territoriality, females select their mates based on the frequency and tonality of advertisement calls.

[21] Sexual maturity in the Mexican burrowing toad is determined by examining testes size in males and ovarian stages in females.

Therefore, there are few antagonistic interactions between the males of this species and female choice is based on acoustic displays rather than physical competition or territory defense.

[1] In the state of Texas, USA, it is listed as a threatened species due to the extensive areas of its habitat that have been converted for agricultural uses and urban development in its limited distribution there.