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Midwife toad
Alytes obstetricans
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Anura Family: Discoglossidae Genus: Alytes Wagler, 1830
Species
Alytes cisternasii Boscá, 1879. Alytes dickhilleni Arntzen et García-París, 1995. Alytes maurus Pasteur et Bons, 1962. Alytes muletensis (Sanchíz et Adrover, 1979). Alytes obstetricans (Laurenti, 1768).

Midwife toads (Alytes) are a genus of frogs in the Discoglossidae family, 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 to hatch, the male wades into shallow water, where he allows the tadpoles to leap out of their eggs. Five separate species of midwife toad are found across western Europe, northern Africa, and Majoraca. Shy, nocturnal animals, they give away their presence by their ringing call

Apoptosis, the programmed cell death, was first observed in the developing of the tadpoles of the midwife toads 1842 by Carl Vogt.

Contents 1 Description 1.1 Food and Feeding 2 Defenses 2.1 Adaptions 3 Species 4 Trivia 5 See Also 6 References

Five separate species of midwife toad are found across western Europe, northern Africa, and Majoraca. Shy, nocturnal animals, they give away their presence by their ringing call.During the day, the midwife toad hides under stones and logs or in underground tunnels. It often hides in dry, sandy soil, wich it finds easier to dig into using its forelegs and snout. It emerges at dusk to forage for food, but always returns to the same hiding places before dawn. During the winter, the common midwife toad hibernates in its hole or in a burrow that has been deserted by a small animal.

The midwife toad crawls around the area close to its hiding place at night to search for food. The toad uses the end of its long, sticky tongue to pick up prey, wich includes beetles, crickets, flies, caterpillars, centipedes, and millipedes. Tadpoles feed on vegetable matter. They chew with tiny, hornyteeth. Young toads eat smaller sizes of the same prey that adults feed on.

The back of the midwife toad is covered with small warts. These warts give off a strong smelling poison when the toad is handled or attacked. The poison is so powerful that the toad has few enemies or predators. The poison also helps to keep the eggs strings on the male's back safe from attack. The tadpole does not posess the poison, and therefore falls prey to fish and insects.

The Majorcan midwife toad has adapted to the harsh, dry conditions of this Spanish Island. it is found only in deep canyons in the northern mountains. Its body has evolved to become more flattened, wich enables the toad to squeeze into narrow crevices in the rocks of its habitat. The only moisture available is in small, rain-filled puddles on ledges. Tadpoles are born and develop in these pools. Fossils of these species have also been found in Europe

• Alytes cisternasii - Iberian Midwife Toad
• Alytes dickhilleni - Betic Midwife Toad
• Alytes maurus
• Alytes muletensis - Mallorcan midwife toad
• Alytes obstetricans - Common Midwife Toad

• A midwife toad's poison can kill a adder in just a few hours

• Midwife toads can be found in the snows of the Pyrenees, living at heights of 5,000 and 6,500 feet.

• Unlike the thin tongue of many amphibians, the midwife's tongue is round and flattened. Its family name, Discoglossidae, means "round tongue"

• In parts of France midwife toads live in sand dunes by the sea. They share this habitat with natterjack toads.

• Natterjack toad

• Majorca

• Carl Vogt: Untersuchungen über die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Geburtshelferkröte. (Alytes obstetricians), Solothurn: Jent und Gassman, (1842), pp 130