The Levant water frog (''Pelophylax bedriagae''), formerly belonging to the genus ''

Rana Rana may refer to: Astronomy * Rana (crater), a crater on Mars * Delta Eridani or Rana, a star People, groups and titles * Rana (name), a given name and surname (including a list of people and characters with the name) * Rana (title), a histori ...

'', is a southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an species of frog. They are green to brown in color with dark blotches on their dorsal side. They are cousins of the aquatic frogs and live most of the time in the water. They are not poisonous and are quite large, especially the females. It has been introduced in some countries where it was not native, one of which is

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. First kept as a pet, then recently during the 1990s, it was deliberately introduced to a number of fresh water rock pools in Gozo, where in one it sustains a large population. Though a prolific and invasive species, it is restricted to constant fresh water supply, so it cannot spread naturally on its own on arid Mediterranean islands.

Etymology

This species is named for

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and rep ...

Jacques von Bedriaga Jacques Vladimir von Bedriaga (last name sometimes spelled Bedryagha) (1854 - 1906) was a Russian herpetologist who was a native of Kriniz, a village near Voronezh. In scientific papers Bedriaga would sometimes alter his name to agree with the la ...

References

SCIBERRAS, A. & SCHEMBRI,P.J. (2006) Rana bedriagae. Herpetological review 37(1):102. SCIBERRAS, A. & SCHEMBRI,P.J. (2006) Occurrence of Alien Bedriaga's frog (Rana bedriagae) Camerano, 1882 in the Maltese Islands, and implications for conservation. Herpetological Bulletin-Number 95:.2-5. * Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is of least concern {{Taxonbar, from=Q1186273 Pelophylax Amphibians of Europe Amphibians described in 1882