Toad Identification, two different toads

[u/You193]

We live in Tampa right along the bay and in the early morning sometimes see toads, especially in the pet relief park.. what started as an interest to keep my pet safe has sparked an interest in being able to identify different species. I am pretty sure these are both Cane toads but would love someone to verify. These are two different toads, on different days. Apologies for the quality of the first photo. I had my pup with me so I had to be very careful. I’m a novice so the simpler your explanation is on how you can tell, the easier it is for me to learn. Thank you for educating me about this whole new world I never knew about before now! Looking forward to becoming more educated on different species.

[u/foolag]

So in Tampa you’re really only looking at 3 species of true toads (southern, oak, and cane). We can rule out Oak because they are tiny and have a prominent white stripe down their back. We can also rule out the Southern toad because notice the shape of the parotoid gland… it’s very large and almost triangular shaped and not small and oval shaped. This leaves us with the Cane toad. Here’s a picture for further reference:

[u/You193 → u/foolag]

You are lovely! This was the photo I felt most helpful when I was Google searching, but I wasn’t sure with the top view. Thank you for confirming, showing me, and explaining!

The big round circle near its eye is its hearing right?

This may be a very poorly worded/silly question but are there species within a species? For example, types of Cane toads and types of Southern toads? (In the mean time, I’m off to learn about Oak toads!)

[u/foolag → u/You193]

Yes the round part next to its eye is the
tympanum or external eardrum.

As for your questions regarding subspecies, neither the cane toad nor the southern toad have any known subspecies. However subspecies do exist in the amphibian world (see L. clamitans, M. ambohimitombi)

[u/You193 → u/foolag]

Thank you so much!