Midwife toad

From Freepedia

Midwife toads (genus Alytes) are toad-like anurans in the Discoglossidae. Characteristic of these European "toads" 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. There are three or four species:

• Iberian midwife toad (Alytes cisternasii (Bosca, 1879)) (not always included)
• Betic midwife toad (Alytes dickhilleni Arntzen & Garcia-Paris, 1995)
• Mallorcan midwife toad (Alytes muletensis (Sanchiz & Adrover, 1977))
• Midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans (Laurenti, 1768))