IberiaNature

Endemic to Southeast Spain.

Described in 1995. Southeast Spain. Considered Vulnerable. Chief threat is loss of breeding habitat.

The Mallorcan midwife toad was rescued from extinction through captive breeding and reintroduction into the wild with the help of Gerald Durrel Foundation and was removed from ‘critically endangered’ category: now rated as ‘vulnerable’in the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It was thought to have been extinct for several thousand years, probably since Roman times when snakes first arrived. Scientists knew of its existence only from fossils found in Mallorca. Then in 1979, incredibly, live Mallorcan midwife toads were dicovered hiding out in the Sierra de Traumuntana in a few limestone gorges. They had been reduced to the brink of extinction by land use changes and the introduction of snakes from the mainland. They now live in 8 or 9 mountain streams in the mountains.

Not really Iberian. Until recently restricted to Ceuta and Melilla, though recently an introduced population has been discovered in the sierras around Algeciras.

Restricted to the Balerics where it was possibly introduced during the Bronze Age as a religious totem.

Jumped into NE Catalonia at start of 20th century from populations introduced into France in the 19th.

Identified and described in 2000. Southern Portugal and Spain. Until then confused with the Parsley Frog

A recent escapee.

The commonest frog in Spain. See Iberian Green Frogs in Collserola (Iberianature).