Editing Cane toad (section)

===Taxonomy and evolution===
The cane toad genome has been sequenced and certain Australian academics believe this will help in understanding how the toad can quickly evolve to adapt to new environments, the workings of its infamous toxin, and hopefully provide new options for halting this species' march across Australia and other places it has spread as an invasive pest.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Russo |first1=Alice |last2=White |first2=Peter |last3=Shine |first3=Rick |title=We've cracked the cane toad genome, and that could help put the brakes on its invasion |url=https://theconversation.com/weve-cracked-the-cane-toad-genome-and-that-could-help-put-the-brakes-on-its-invasion-103362|work=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]|access-date=26 December 2018}}</ref>

Studies of the genome confirm its evolutionary origins in northern part of South America and its close genetic relation to ''[[Rhinella diptycha]]'' and other similar species of the genus.<ref name="VallinotoSequeiraSodré2010">{{cite journal | last1 = Vallinoto | first1 = Marcelo | last2 = Sequeira | first2 = Fernando | last3 = Sodré | first3 = Davidson | last4 = Bernardi | first4 = José A. R. | last5 = Sampaio | first5 = Iracilda | last6 = Schneider | first6 = Horacio |title=Phylogeny and biogeography of the ''Rhinella marina'' species complex (Amphibia, Bufonidae) revisited: implications for Neotropical diversification hypotheses|journal=[[Zoologica Scripta]]| date = March 2010 | volume = 39 | issue = 2 | pages = 128–140 | issn = 0300-3256 | eissn = 1463-6409 | doi = 10.1111/j.1463-6409.2009.00415.x | pmid = | s2cid = 84074871 | url = }}</ref> Recent studies suggest that ''R. marina'' diverged between 2.75 and 9.40 million years ago.<ref name="RiveraPratesFirneno2021">{{cite journal | last1 = Rivera | first1 = Danielle | last2 = Prates | first2 = Ivan | last3 = Firneno | first3 = Thomas J. | last4 = Trefaut Rodrigues | first4 = Miguel | last5 = Caldwell | first5 = Janalee P. | last6 = Fujita | first6 = Matthew K.|title=Phylogenomics, introgression, and demographic history of South American true toads (''Rhinella'')|journal=[[Molecular Ecology (journal)|Molecular Ecology]]| date = 16 December 2021 | volume = 31 | issue = 3 | pages = 978–992 | issn = 0962-1083 | eissn = 1365-294X | doi = 10.1111/mec.16280 | pmid = 34784086 | hdl = 2027.42/171619 | s2cid = 244131909 | url = | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

A recent split in the species into further subspecies may have occurred approximately 2.7 million years ago following the isolation of population groups by the rising [[Northern Andes|Venezuelan Andes]].<ref name="SladeMoritz1998">{{cite journal | last1 = Slade | first1 = R.W. | last2 = Moritz | first2 = C. |title=Phylogeography of ''Bufo marinus'' from its natural and introduced ranges|journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences]]| date = 7 May 1998 | volume = 265 | issue = 1398 | pages = 769–777 | issn = 0962-8452 | eissn = 1471-2954 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.1998.0359 | pmid = 9628036 | pmc = 1689048 | url = }}</ref>