The Berber toad, also known as Mauritanian toad, Moroccan toad, pantherine toad or Moorish toad (''Sclerophrys mauritanica''), is a species of

toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientif ...

in the family Bufonidae, which is found in north-western Africa, with an introduced population in southern

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 ...

Description

The Berber toad is a large toad, reaching 13–15 cm in body length. The upperparts are beige to olive with large orange or red spots. The underparts are white with small grey spots. It can be found in a variety of colour morphs, with the back colour varies from dark patches of brown, olive, orange, or reddish brown to just a plain sandy colour.

Distribution

The Berber toad is found in north western Africa, occurring in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

eastwards through

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into

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and south to the northernmost part of

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 ...

, although this has yet to be confirmed. An introduced population is also present in Spain close to Los Alcornocales Natural Park in the vicinity of Algeciras.

Habitat

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 subtropical or tropical dry cork oak

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, subtropical or tropical dry

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

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 wate ...

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 at ...

es, intermittent freshwater marshes,

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 the ...

, pastureland,

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s and urban areas. Berber toads range up to 2,650 m above sea level in the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. It separates the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range. It stretches around through Moroc ...

Habits

It breeds in fresh or brackish still or slow-flowing bodies of water. The females deposit approximately 5,000–10,000 eggs. During the day the adults hide under rocks or in tunnels.

Taxonomy

Originally placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

'' Bufo'' but was placed in the African genus '' Amietophrynus'' for the former 20-chromosome "''Bufo''" in 2009 and then ''Amietophrynus'' was renamed ''Sclerophrys'' as the type species ''Sclerophrys capensis'' was named as such, so ''Amietophrynus'' is a junior synonym of ''Sclerophrys''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q28031680, from2=Q28031667, from3=Q793194 mauritanica Amphibians of North Africa Amphibians described in 1841 Taxa named by Hermann Schlegel Taxonomy articles created by Polbot