Painted disc tongue

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Painted disc tongue
Discoglossus pictus.jpg

Painted Disc-( Discoglossus pictus )

Systematics
Class : Amphibians (Amphibia)
Order : Frog (anura)
Superfamily : Discoglossoidea
Family : Alytidae
Genre : Discoglossus ( Discoglossus )
Type : Painted disc tongue
Scientific name
Discoglossus pictus
Otth , 1837

The painted discoglossus ( Discoglossus pictus ) is a frog from the Alytidae family .

description

The species reaches a head-trunk length of five to seven (rarely: eight) centimeters, with the males becoming slightly larger on average. The muzzle on the flat, broad head is bluntly pointed; the body a bit squat. The toes are webbed. As with all discoglossids, the tongue is disc-shaped and fused with the floor of the oral cavity. In daylight, the pupils are vertical-slit-shaped to "inverted teardrop-shaped"; outer eardrums are usually only indistinctly recognizable. A narrow complex of glands extends from the eye to the shoulder. There are also small warts and glandular ridges in the middle of the back, while the rest of the skin is more smooth like a frog . The top has drawing patterns that can be reddish, yellowish, green-greyish, bronze-colored or brownish in color. The species comes in three variations: animals that are uniformly colored, specimens that are characterized by dark, large, light-lined spots and animals with two dark brown longitudinal bands as well as one light band over the back and two light bands on the sides. The underside is whitish. During the mating season, the males develop dark-colored oestrus calluses on the insides of the fingers and dark cornifications in the chin and chest area.

Discoglossus pictus looks particularly similar to the Iberian disc beak ( D. galganoi ); this was therefore recognized and described as a separate species only very late. For this reason, in older literature a much larger area of ​​distribution on the Iberian Peninsula is represented for the painted disc tongue.

distribution

Distribution area of ​​the painted disc lobster

The nominate form Discoglossus pictus pictus lives on Malta , Gozo and Sicily - there up to an altitude of 1500 m above sea level. The subspecies D. p. auritus is originally found in northern Algeria and Tunisia . It was apparently introduced to southern France, from where the animals then spread over the Pyrenees to northern Catalonia (Spain). Another earlier subspecies, D. p. scovazzi from Morocco and the Spanish North Africa exclaves Ceuta and Melilla , has recently been viewed as a separate species of Moroccan disc beater ( Discoglossus scovazzi ).

Habitat and way of life

Standing and flowing water as well as open areas near settlements and vineyards serve as living space. Disk-flickers are active during the day and at night, but usually hide under stones during the day. The mating season extends - at least in North Africa - from January to November. The up to 1000 eggs per female are deposited in small spawning lumps of 20 to 50 eggs or individually in sometimes brackish water, whereby they are externally fertilized by the inguinal clinging male. The tadpoles hatch after two to six days. The metamorphosis to land animals takes one to three months. The diet of the adult animals consists of insects, mollusks, earthworms and spiders.

Species protection

Legal protection status (selection)

literature

  • Andreas Nöllert & Christel Nöllert: The amphibians of Europe. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-440-06340-2 .

Web links

Commons : Painted Scheibenzüngler ( Discoglossus pictus )  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files