Common midwife toad

Common midwife toad
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Alytidae
Genus: Alytes
Species:
A. obstetricans
Binomial name
Alytes obstetricans
(Laurenti, 1768)
Male carrying eggs
Tadpole

The common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) is a species of midwife frog in the family Alytidae (formerly Discoglossidae). It is found in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (although, in the latter, only as an introduction). Like other members of its genus (Alytes), the male toad carries the eggs around entwined on his back and thighs until they are ready to hatch.[2]

Its natural habitats are temperate forests, dry forests, shrubland, rivers, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, temperate desert, arable land, pastureland and urban areas. It is threatened by habitat loss.

  1. ^ Bosch J, Beebee T, Schmidt BR, Tejedo M, Martinez-Solano I, Salvador A, et al. (2009), Alytes obstetricans, vol. 2009, p. e.T55268A87541047, doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T55268A11283700.en
  2. ^ Alytidae AmphibiaWeb. Retrieved 2012-03-26.