The Betic midwife toad or Sapo Partero Bético (''Alytes dickhilleni'') is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

in the family

Alytidae The Alytidae are a family (biology), family of primitive frogs. Their common name is painted frogs or midwife toads. Most are Endemism, endemic to Europe, but three species occur in northwest Africa, and a species formerly thought to be extinct i ...

(formerly Discoglossidae). It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to mountainous in south eastern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

s are temperate

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s, freshwater

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es, intermittent freshwater marshes, pastureland,

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

s, and aquaculture ponds. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

Description

The Betic midwife toad is grey, finely mottled with dark and pale specks. Its length may be about and it has bulging eyes with vertical slit pupils. There is a distinctive grey area between the eyes and the

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

s are relatively small. There is a lateral line of whitish glandular tubercles on the body but an absence of the orange glandular spots found in other members of the genus.

Distribution and habitat

The Betic midwife toad is native to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in south eastern Spain. The population is fragmented as different mountains support separate populations. It is fairly common on Alcaraz, Segura and Cazorla mountains but less common on the drier Filabres, Baza and

Gádor Gádor is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Almería (province), Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. The crime of Gádor, murder of Bernardo Gonzalez Parra by Francisco Leona happened on 28 June 1910 in Gá ...

peaks. It is generally found in oak and pine forests and in open rocky areas, mostly on limestone, at elevations between . In drier parts it tends to be near springs.

Biology

The Betic midwife toad is nocturnal and hides under rocks and in crevices during the day. The toads mate on land and the male coils the egg mass round his hind legs and carries it around until the developing tadpoles are ready to hatch. He then deposits them in suitable water bodies such as mountain streams, cattle troughs and reservoirs. The tadpoles are slow-growing and may overwinter before undergoing

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

into juvenile frogs.

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

lists this toad as endangered as its numbers appear to be in decline. The main threats it faces are the diminution in the number of suitable breeding sites due to drought, water abstraction and changes in agricultural practices. It is also at risk from the fungal disease

chytridiomycosis Chytridiomycosis ( ) is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi '' Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis'' and '' Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans''. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or extinc ...

. On January 21, 2008, Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE), per chief Helen Meredith identified nature's most weird, wonderful and

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

amphibians Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

: "The EDGE amphibians are amongst the most remarkable and unusual species on the planet and yet an alarming 85% of the top 100 are receiving little or no conservation attention." The top 10 endangered species (in this List of endangered animal species) include: the

Chinese giant salamander The Chinese giant salamander (''Andrias davidianus'') is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world.newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

, the tiny Gardiner's Seychelles frog, the limbless Sagalla caecilian,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n ghost frogs, lungless Mexican salamanders, the Malagasy rainbow frog, Chile Darwin's frog and the Betic midwife toad.Ian Sample (21 January 2008
guardian.co.uk, Drive to save weird and endangered amphibians
Guardian. Retrieved on 2013-01-02.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q250533 Alytes Amphibians described in 1995 Amphibians of Europe Endemic fauna of Spain Endemic amphibians of the Iberian Peninsula Taxonomy articles created by Polbot