Midwife Toad

Midwife Toad, small, land-living amphibians in the order that contains frogs and toads. They are called midwife toads because the male helps to care for the eggs by carrying them on its back. Adults are usually less than about 5 cm (about 2 in) long and are found in western Europe. Unlike many other toads and frogs, which deposit their eggs directly in water, female midwife toads lay their eggs on land. During the release of the eggs, the male entangles the strands of 20 to 60 fertilized eggs about his thighs. He periodically emerges from the burrow at night to moisten the eggs in the dew or in pools of water. After about a month, the male enters the water, and the tadpoles hatch and swim off. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species lists some species of midwife toad as near-threatened or vulnerable because of fragmentation and loss of habitat.

Midwife toads were the subject of controversial experiments by the Austrian biologist Paul Kammerer. In the early 20th century, Kammerer tried but failed to produce conclusive evidence that acquired traits can be inherited, a hypothesis in opposition to modern hereditary theory.

Scientific classification: Midwife toads belong to the family Discoglossidae. The common midwife toad is classified as Alytes obstetricans and the Iberian midwife toad as Alytes cisternasii.