Balearic green toad
{{Short description|Species of amphibian}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Balearic green toad
| image = Bufotes balearicus female quadrat.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Bufotes
| species = balearicus
| authority = (Boettger, 1880)
| range_map = Pseudepidalea balearica range Map.png
| synonyms = Bufo balearicus Boettger, 1880
Bufo variabilis var. balearica Boettger, 1880
Bufo viridis balearicus Boettger, 1880
Pseudepidalea balearica (Boettger, 1880)
}}
The Balearic green toad (Bufotes balearicus) is a species of anuran, a toad, belonging to the true toad family, Bufonidae, from Italy and islands in the western Mediterranean Sea. It is mostly a lowland species, but can be found as high as {{convert|1300|m|abbr=on}} asl in central Italy.
Distribution
The Balearic green toad, in spite of the name, this species is native to Italy (where it is present on all territories except for the extreme north-east, south-east and south-west) and Corsica. It was probably introduced to the Balearic Islands in prehistoric times,{{cite journal|last=Hemmer|first=Helmut|author2=Kadel, Beate|author3= Kadel, Karl|title=The Balearic toad (Bufo viridis balearicus (BOETTGER, 1881)), human bronze age culture, and Mediterranean biogeography|journal=Amphibia-Reptilia|year=1981|volume=2|issue=3|pages=217–230|doi=10.1163/156853881X00041}} where it is common but declining. Its formerly extended into Switzerland and there have been (so far) unsuccessful reintroduction attempts in that country.{{cite book | author=Dufresnes, C. | year=2019 | title=Amphibians of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: A Photographic Guide | page=77 | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | isbn=978-1-4729-4137-4 }} Its range meets that of the similar and closely related European green toad (B. viridis) in far northeastern Italy and that of the Sicilian green toad (B. boulengeri siculus) in easternmost Sicily.{{cite journal| author1=Dufresnes, C. | display-authors=etal | year=2019 | title=Fifteen shades of green: The evolution of Bufotes toads revisited | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=141 | page=106615 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106615 | pmid=31520778 | s2cid=202573454 | url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/643281 }} This species appears to have been introduced, either accidentally or deliberately, to the Balearic Islands from Sardinia and Corsica, probably in the Bronze Age.{{cite journal |author=Helmut Hemmer |author2=Beate Kadel |name-list-style=and |author3=Karl Kadel |year=1981 |title=The Balearic toad (Bufo viridis balearicus) (BOETTGER, 1881)), human bronze age culture, and Mediterranean biogeography |journal=Amphibia-Reptilia |volume=2 |pages=217-230 |url=https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/amre/2/3/article-p217_4.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOopf9HGVfDHxglUCdDytSO-VjgFjioe34GEWvlZkE1uxhuHH9qVA}}
Taxonomy and appearance
File:Pseudepidalea balearica - San Vincenzo 2007.ogvThe Balearic green toad was first formally described in 1880 as Bufo variabilis Pall. var. balearica by Oskar Boettger with its type locality given as the Balearic islands of Menorca and Mallorca.{{cite journal |author= Dr. O. Boettger |author-link=Oskar Boettger|year=1880 |title=6. Neue Krötenvarietät von den Balearen |journal=Zoologischer Anzeiger |lang=De |volume=III |issue=42-72 |pages=642-643 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9456922}} Once considered the same as the European green toad, molecular genetic data now firmly support its status as a separate species.{{cite journal|last1=Stöck|first1=M.|last2=Sicilia|first2=A.|last3=Belfiore|first3=N.|last4=Buckley|first4=D.|last5=Lo Brutto|first5=S.|last6=Lo Valvo|first6=M.|last7=Arculeo|first7=M.|title=Post-Messinian evolutionary relationships across the Sicilian channel: Mitochondrial and nuclear markers link a new green toad from Sicily to African relatives|journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology|year=2008|volume=8|pages=56–74|url= |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-8-56|pmid=18294389|pmc=2276203 |doi-access=free }} There is some hybridization where their ranges come into contact; hybridization with the Sicilian green toad is extremely limited.{{cite journal | author1=Colliard, C. | author2=A. Sicilia | author3=G.F. Turrisi | author4=M. Arculeo | author5=N. Perrin | author6=M. Stöck | year=2010 | title=Strong reproductive barriers in a narrow hybrid zone of West-Mediterranean green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup) with Plio-Pleistocene divergence | journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume=10 | issue=1 | page=232 | pmc=2923517 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-10-232 | pmid=20670415 | doi-access=free }} The three species are very similar, but the Balearic green toad has paratoid glands with brownish or reddish spots.
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References
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- {{Commons-inline|2=Bufotes balearica}}
- {{Wikispecies-inline|Pseudepidalea balearica|Bufotes balearica}}
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