Midwife toad [SEP] parent taxon
Midwife toad
Midwife toads ("Alytes") are a genus 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 fertilised eggs on their back, hence the name "midwife". The female expels a strand of eggs, which the male fertilizes externally. He then wraps them around his legs to protect them from predators in the water. When they are ready
There live 75 species of amphibians in Europe, 56 of them endemic. Amphibian fauna is richest in southern Europe. Several ranids (common frog, moor frog, marsh frog, pool frog, agile frog), bufonids (common toad, natterjack toad, European green toad), hylids (European tree frog, Mediterranean tree frog) and a few pelobatids (common spadefoot), midwife toads and bombinatorids (yellow-bellied toad, European fire-bellied toad) discoglossids (e.g. common midwife toad, 10 Mediterranean species)