The African green toad (''Bufotes boulengeri'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of toad found in North Africa from

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the r ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, and on the Italian islands of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Favignana Favignana ( scn, Faugnana) is a ''comune'' including three islands (Favignana, Marettimo and Levanzo) of the Aegadian Islands, southern Italy. It is situated approximately west of the coast of Sicily, between Trapani and Marsala, the coastal ar ...

Lampedusa Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The ''comune'' of L ...

and

Ustica Ustica (; scn, Ùstica) is a small Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is about across and is situated north of Capo Gallo, Sicily. Roughly 1,300 people live in the ''comune'' (municipality) of the same name. There is a regular fer ...

. The populations on the Italian islands were described as a separate species, the Sicilian green toad (''B. siculus''), in 2008, but more recent authorities treat it as a

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the African green toad because they are very closely related. Both were historically included in the

European green toad The European green toad (''Bufotes viridis'') is a species of toad found in steppes, mountainous areas, semi-deserts, urban areas and other habitats in mainland Europe, ranging from far eastern France and Denmark to the Balkans and Western Russi ...

(''B. viridis'') and all have been included in the genus ''

Bufo ''Bufo'' is a genus of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. As traditionally defined, it was a wastebasket genus containing a large number of toads from much of the world, but following taxonomic reviews most of these have been moved to ...

''. It was previously suggested that the African green toad might range east into

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

and the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

, but a review has shown that this involves the related '' B. sitibundus''. The African green toad is found from coastal areas to highland plateaus in forests, scrubland, grassland, semi-deserts and deserts; it breeds in temporary ponds and similar habitats. In both size and colouration, the African green toad resembles other members of the genus ''

Bufotes ''Bufotes'', the Eurasian green toads or Palearctic green toads, is a genus of true toads (family Bufonidae). They are native to Europe (absent from the British Isles, most of Fennoscandia, most of France and the Iberian Peninsula), western and ...

'', including the European green toad and the

Balearic green toad The Balearic green toad (''Bufotes balearicus'') is a toad belonging to the true toad family, Bufonidae, from Italy and islands in the western Mediterranean Sea. It is mostly a lowland species, but can be found as high as asl in central Italy. ...

(''B. balearicus''). The range of the African and Balearic green toads approach each other in easternmost Sicily; only the latter species has coloured spots on the

paratoid gland The parotoid gland (alternatively, paratoid gland) is an external skin gland on the back, neck, and shoulder of toads and some frogs and salamanders. It can secrete a number of milky alkaloid substances (depending on the species) known collective ...

s and some reddish-orange markings. The two subspecies of the African green toad very closely resemble each other; the North African ''B. b. boulengeri'' may differ from the Sicilian ''B. b. siculus'' by its dorsal stripe.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q769437 Bufotes Amphibians of North Africa Amphibians of Europe Amphibians described in 1879