The Iberian parsley frog (''Pelodytes ibericus'') is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

s in the family

Pelodytidae Pelodytidae, also known as the parsley frogs, or rarely, mud divers, is a family of frogs. It contains a single extant genus, '' Pelodytes'', and two genera only known from fossils. The extant species are found in southwestern Europe and the Cauc ...

, known as "

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...

frogs" because of their green speckles. This species is only found in

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 ...

and

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 ...

; in Spanish it is known as ''sapillo moteado ibérico''.

Description

Adult Iberian parsley frogs attain a length of about and look very similar to the

common parsley frog The common parsley frog (''Pelodytes punctatus'') is a species of frog in the genus ''Pelodytes''. It lives in the Iberian region in south-western Europe. Description The common parsley frog (''Pelodytes punctatus'') is a very small and slen ...

(''Pelodytes punctatus'', its sister species) but are a little smaller with shorter limbs. The skin is smooth or granular with a scattering of dark-coloured

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...

s. The dorsal surface varies from olive, greenish-brown, dark brown or greenish-grey and is flecked with green specks. The undersurface is white or cream and the throat of breeding males is dark-coloured.

Distribution and habitat

The Iberian parsley frog is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. It is quite common in suitable habitats in Spain but seems to be rare in Portugal. It occurs in open areas, under bushes, among scattered trees, in salt marshes, fields and gardens. It can continue to live in intensively farmed areas.

Breeding

Breeding takes place in the spring, often after heavy rain. Eggs are laid in ponds, ditches, slow-moving streams and flooded areas. Egg masses contain up to 350 eggs and several clutches may be laid over the course of a few days. The eggs hatch after about a fortnight and the

tadpole A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...

s may take about three months to develop before undergoing

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some inse ...

into juvenile frogs.

Conservation status

This frog has a wide range and the overall population seems to be reasonably stable. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) rates it as being of "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

" as it considers that the rate of decline, if any, is insufficient to justify listing it in a more threatened category. This frog is common over much of its range and the threats it faces have been identified as degradation of its habitat, the loss of its breeding pools, and the predation of the

invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...

freshwater crayfish '' Procambarus clarkii''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1050722 Pelodytes Amphibians described in 2000 Amphibians of Europe Endemic amphibians of the Iberian Peninsula Fauna of Portugal Taxonomy articles created by Polbot