Iberian Midwife Toad

Small stocky frog with a short head. Males attain a snout-vent length of up to 36 mm, whereas females grow up to 42 mm. The eyes are large and have a vertical slit-shaped pupil. Parotoid glands are small, and the tympanum is clearly visible. One or two rows of small, often reddish warts are present on the upper eyelids. The skin is warty, and a row of large warts extends from the tympanum to the groin area. Other large gland complexes are present on the underarms and the ankles. There are two metacarpal tubercles. The limbs are shorter than in other species of Alytes. The coloration is usually brownish with more or less pronounced dark spots. Warts are mostly red in color. The eyes are often connected with a light colored band. The underside is an unspotted dirty white (Noellert and Noellert 1992). Males are smaller than females. Other features that distinguish males and females are: distance between nostrils, head width, lower jaw length, vertical diameter of tympanum and tibia-fibula length. These variables should be corrected for the size of the animal (Bosch and Marquez 1996).

Alytes cisternasii is endemic to the Iberian penninsula, inhabiting the south-western and central parts of this region. Presumably derived from an Alytes obstetricans-like ancestor, this species has adapted to lower and drier environments, having acquired a more markedly fossorial lifestyle than the two congeneric species, Alytes obstetricans and Alytes muletensis. In Portugal, it occupies the whole country south of the Lousa-Estrela mountain system, extending north through the oriental regions of the provinces of Beira Baixa, Beira Alta and Trás-os-Montes. In Spain, to the north of the Central mountains, Alytes cisternasii is distributed over the provinces of Zamona, Salamanca, Avila, Valladolid, Segovia, and to the south of the Central mountain system, over the regions of Madrid, Guadalajara, Toledo, Caceres, Badajoz, Ciudad Real, Huelva, Sevilla, Cordoba and Jaen (limited in the south-east by the Quadalquivir river).This amphibian is, generally, associated with xeric environments, with sclerophyte vegetation of the Mediterranean type - open forests of Quercus ilex, Q. rotundifolia, Q. suber, - and with brushwood of Q. coccifera, Cystus ladanifer and C. monspeliensis. It prefers soils that are not very consistent, usually sandy-granitic, wherein it buries itself. Especially in the south of its distribution range, it lives in the vicinity of streams of a temporary nature, which frequently regress in summer. In Portugal, the species is predominantly found between 100 and 600m, reaching its maximum altitude in the Serra de Monchique (Algarve), at 750m. In Spain, although more frequent in low altitudes, it can be found above 1000m (1200m, Presa de Voltoya, Avila; 1110m, Villacastin, Segovia)(Gasc 1997).

These frogs are well known for the parental care behavior of males. The females can produce up to four clutches per breeding season. Mating season is between September and March, with its peak in October/November. Males produce advertisement calls for several hours every night during the breeding season. The females reply by calling back with a lower intensity than the males. The following account of the mating behavior of A. cisternasii has been altered from Marquez and Verrell (1990). A more detailed account can be found there.The female seeks out the male and presents herself to him. The male grabs the female in the lumbar region. The female responds by rocking her body side-to-side. The male pedals with his hind legs against the substratum, resulting in a vigorous forward-backward movement of the male's body. The male then rocks his body slightly backward and forward, in a much less intense way as the pedaling motion. After some time, the male suddenly constricts the female's flanks. She extends her hind legs and adopts a posture much like the antipredator "unkenkrampf" (unken reflex) as seen in the genus Bombina, and ejects an egg mass into the trough between her thighs. The male then releases his lumbar grip, takes an axillar hold and inseminates the eggs with a quantity of liquid sperm mass. After 10-15 minutes, the male distends the egg mass with his hind legs, applies them alternatingly to his body and extends them again until the strings of eggs are wound around his ankles. A male can copulate anew and carry up to four clutches around his legs with a total of 180 eggs or more (Noellert and Noellert 1992). Eggs are 2.6-3.5mm in diameter directly after laying and grow to 4.3-4.4 mm (likely through uptake of water). Males keep the egg mass moist by microhabitat choice, or by taking short baths. The males seek out small water bodies to discard the egg strings with the hatching larvae. Upon hatching, the larvae are about 13 mm and metamorphose when they have reached a maximum length of 70 mm, after 110 to 140 days at a development temperature of 20ºC. Newly metamorphosed toadlets have a snout-vent length of 2 4mm. Sexual maturity is reached at an age of at least 2 years.

Honnegger (1981) reports that the populations of A. cisternasii are declining for unknown reasons.Portuguese populations of A. cisternasii do not seem to be particularly endangered. In fact, this is one of the most common amphibian species south of the Tagus River. Similarly, Spanish populations are not, in general, threatened. However, in some areas, for example around Madrid, the species is a victim of the accelerated destruction of the Mediterranean forest (Gasc 1997).

The Iberian midwife toad or brown midwife toad (Alytes cisternasii), in Portuguese sapo-parteiro-ibérico, is a species of frog in the family Alytidae (formerly Discoglossidae) found in Portugal and western Spain. It is typically found in open habitats such as meadows and open oak forests. Habitat loss is one of the threats to its survival.