We were on a night hike and came across this frog/toad, but were unable to identify it. Spadefoot? It had very distinct gold flakes and spots on its skin that don't show up in the photos. (I've included a shot of the fire salamander we found, just for kicks.) It was in forested, riparian habitat, in Rupit, Spain, in the pre-Pyrenees at an altitude of about 860 meters. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Bobby. We've seen midwife toads before, and this one just looked different. Is there a good deal of regional variation? Subspecies I should know about?
Hi Matthew, It shoud be a. o. almogavarii. A recent DNA study by Gonvalves (2007) shows that this form is very old and restricted to the NE of Spain where it must live since the late Mioceene. This type does not exist to the South of the Ebro. This goes against what (Garcia-Paris, 1995) wrote. Garcia-Paris described this type in the area of Huesca, is probably an expantion of a. o. o. They still want to study it further. What the physical diferences are I dont know at the moment. I will search further, but it must be o.a.almogavarii based on the location. Miguel