![AlytesObstetricansMaleWithEggs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/AlytesObstetricansMaleWithEggs.jpg)
The common midwife toad (''Alytes obstetricans'') is a species of
midwife frog
Midwife toads are a genus (''Alytes'') of frogs in the family Alytidae (formerly Discoglossidae), and are found in most of Europe and northwestern Africa. Characteristic of these toad-like frogs is their parental care; the males carry a string of ...
in the family
Alytidae
The Alytidae are a family of primitive frogs. Their common name is painted frogs or midwife toads. Most are endemic to Europe, but three species occur in northwest Africa, and a species formerly thought to be extinct is found in Israel.
This fam ...
(formerly Discoglossidae). It is found in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
(although, in the latter, only as an
introduction
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
). 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.
Its natural
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s are temperate
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
s, dry forests,
shrubland,
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
s, freshwater
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
s, freshwater
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
es, temperate
desert,
arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...
, pastureland and
urban area
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...
s. It is threatened by
habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
.
Description
The common midwife toad can grow to a length of but is usually rather smaller than this, the females generally being larger than the males. It is broad and stocky and has a large head with prominent eyes, the pupils being vertical slits. The skin is mostly smooth with a few small warts and granules and a row of large warts down either side. The
parotoid 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 collectiv ...
s are small and there are additional glands in the under arm and ankle regions. There are three tubercles on each metacarpal. The colour is quite variable, often being grey, olive or brown, sometimes speckled with small greenish or brown spots. The large warts are often reddish or yellow. The underside is pale grey often with spots of darker grey on the throat and chest.
Distribution and habitat
The common midwife toad is found in a number of countries in north west Europe. It is common throughout France and is also found in southern Belgium and the Netherlands, Luxembourg, western Germany and northern and western Switzerland. There are some disconnected outlying populations in Portugal and northern Spain. In the
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...
it is found at altitudes of up to .
[ It is usually found not far from water but sometimes wanders away, often living in sunny locations. These include hilly areas, cultivated land, quarries, rocky slopes, gravel pits, woods, parks and gardens. It is active at dusk and through the night, spending the day hidden in undergrowth, in crevices or under logs or stones in a place where it can keep damp. It can dig a burrow with its fore limbs in which to lie and spends the winter hibernating on land.][ Research has demonstrated that four of the introduced populations in Bedfordshire, England have the same origin, through sequencing of 16S and COI gene sequences. However, due to limitations in the reference database, the researchers can't be sure of the exact location of origin.] Researchers have noted a number of limb deformities in the introduced populations found throughout the United Kingdom, which are likely linked to small founder population sizes.
Systematics
The common midwife toad, (''Alytes obstetricans'') has four subspecies within its distribution, ''A. o. almogavarii, A. o. boscai, A. o. obstetricans,'' and ''A. o. pertinax.'' ''A. o. obstetricans'' is the subspecies with the largest distribution, spreading from the Iberian Peninsula northward into the rest of its range. The other three subspecies are local to the Iberian Peninsula. These subspecies formed during glacial refugia conditions during the Plio-Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. Due to the genetic differences of these populations, their individual conservation is highly important. Recently, ''A. o. almogavarii'' has been recommended as an independent incipient species ''Alytes almogavarii'' as it has been shown to be moving towards total impermeable gene flow.
Behaviour
When threatened, the midwife toad inflates, filling itself with air so as to make it appear as large as possible. It may also rear up on all four limbs, raise its rump and stand in a threatening posture with its head down and eyes shut.[
Reproduction takes place in spring and summer. The female seeks out a male and invites him to mate. Females are more prone to selecting larger males due to fitness preference. He proceeds to hold her round the flanks and uses his toes to stimulate her cloaca. After about half an hour he squeezes her sides firmly, whereby she stretches her hind legs and ejects a mass of eggs embedded in strings of jelly. The male releases her and inseminates the egg mass with his sperm. A little later, he begins to pull and pummel the egg mass, teasing it out so that he can wrap the strings around his back legs. He can mate again while the eggs are twined round his limbs and can carry up to three clutches of eggs at a time, a total of about 150 eggs. He looks after them until they hatch, in 3 to 8 weeks.][ He keeps them moist by lying up in a damp place during the day and by going for a swim if there is risk of them drying out.][ He may secrete a substance through the skin that protects the eggs from infection. When the eggs are about to hatch, he detaches them in a calm stretch of water like a ditch, village pond, spring or drinking trough. There is evidence that suggests that this may include temporary water bodies, such as those found within flowerpot saucers in urban gardens. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, which feed and grow over the course of several months, develop limbs, lose their tails and eventually undergo metamorphosis into juvenile toads. They may overwinter as tadpoles, becoming exceptionally large in the process.][
]
Diet
Common midwife toads feed mostly on insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s and other arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...
s, as well as carrion.
Role in history of biology, sociology of science
The 1971 book by Arthur Koestler
Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...
''The Case of the Midwife Toad'', brought the species a role in new thinking on the development of scientific paradigms based on the case of Paul Kammerer
Paul Kammerer (17 August 1880, in Vienna – 23 September 1926, in Puchberg am Schneeberg) was an Austrian biologist who studied and advocated Lamarckism, the theory that organisms may pass to their offspring characteristics acquired in their lif ...
who claimed to have shown Lamarckian
Lamarckism, also known as Lamarckian inheritance or neo-Lamarckism, is the notion that an organism can pass on to its offspring physical characteristics that the parent organism acquired through use or disuse during its lifetime. It is also calle ...
inheritance in experiments with the toad.
References
External links
Sound recordings of Common midwife toad at BioAcoustica
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q837990
Alytes
Amphibians described in 1768
Amphibians of Europe
Articles containing video clips
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxa named by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti