Bufotes viridis (Laurenti, 1768)

English Names

Brown Toad (Bufo fuscus [no longer recognized]: Lacépède, 1802, Nat. Hist. Ovip. Quadruped. (Kerr transl.): 301).

Green Toad (Lacépède, 1802, Nat. Hist. Ovip. Quadruped. (Kerr transl.): 296; Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 153; Wood, 1863, Illust. Nat. Hist., 3: 168; Gadow, 1901, Amphibia and Reptiles: 180; Hellmich, 1962, Rept. Amph. Eur.: 64; Arnold and Burton, 1978, Field Guide Rept. Amph. Brit. Eur.: 74; Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 46; Roth, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 122; Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 251; Tarkhnishvili and Gokhelashvili, 1999, Adv. Amph. Res. Former Soviet Union, 4: v; Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 76).

European Green Toad (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 76; Minton, 1966, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 134: 53; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 44).

Changeable Toad (Hellmich, 1962, Rept. Amph. Eur.: 64).

Varying Toad (Rana variabilis: Lacépède, 1802, Nat. Hist. Ovip. Quadruped. (Kerr transl.): 298; Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 153).

Variable Toad (Wood, 1863, Illust. Nat. Hist., 3: 167; Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 46).

Thirsty Frog (Bufotes sitibundus: Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 115).

Variable Green Toad (Bufotes sitibundus: Arakelyan, Danielyan, Corti, Sindaco, and Leviton, 2011, Herpetofauna of Armenia: 40).

Teheran Toad (Bufo kavirensis [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 42).

Kerman Variable Toad (Bufotes variabilis kermanensis: Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 266. 

Thirsty Toad (Bufotes sitibundus: Safaei-Mahroo and Ghaffari, 2020, Compl. Guide Amph. Iran: 11). 

Balearic Green Toad (Bufotes balearicus: Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 77).

Perrin's Toad (Bufotes perrini: Safaei-Mahroo and Ghaffari, 2020, Compl. Guide Amph. Iran: 10). 

Perrin's Green Toad (Bufotes perrini:  Dufresnes, Mazepa, Jablonski, Oliveira, Wenseleers, Shabanov, Auer, Ernst, Koch, Ramírez-Chaves, Mulder, Simonovo, Tiutenko, Kryvokhyzhar, Wennekes, Zinenko, Korshunov, Al-Johany, Peregontsev, Masroor, Betto-Colliard, Denoël, Borkin, Skorinov, Pasynkova, Mazanaeva, Rosanov, Dubey, and Litvinchuk, 2019, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 141: 21).

Thirsty Green Toad (Bufotes viridis sitibundus: Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 17).

Distribution

Italy (except for the northeast), including eastern Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica (France), and the Balearic Islands of Spain, possibly to Malta; throughout the Balkan Peninsula to the western (Germany and eastern France), northern (southern Sweden) and eastern parts of Europe (to the Urals), with the eastern limit being the Volga River drainage in Russia; reaches northwestern Anatolia, and was introduced in western Siberia (Novosibirsk oblast’, Russia); reported from central Uzbekistan (see comment); northern Sinai (Egypt) north through Israel, Lebanon, western and northern Syria throughout Anatolia and the Caucasus region to southern Russia, Kazakhstan, and southeast through eastern Iraq, Kuwait, and western Iran; Central Asia, from southeastern Kazakhstan to the southwestern Caspian shores, largely disrupted by the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan; eastern lineage is associated to the arid lowlands from the Amu-Darya on the south (western Afghanistan and Uzbekistan) towards the eastern side of the former Aral Sea, the middle and lower Syr-Darya flow, eastern side of the Turgai Depression, the lower Talas and Chu River drainages as well as the Balkhash Lake basin, hybridizing on the east with Bufotes pewzowi along the western foothills of the Tian-Shan system. The western lineage is found mostly in arid mountainous areas of southwestern Turkmenistan and northeastern Iran (Khorasan). Possibly extending into southwestern Tajikistan, northern Kyrgystan. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Likely/Controversially Present: Kyrgyzstan, Malta, Tajikistan

Comment

Comments for Bufotes viridis (sensu stricto): A diploid species in the Bufo viridis group of Martin, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 63, and Inger, 1972, in Blair (ed.), Evol. Genus Bufo: 107. For discussion and definition of the Bufo viridis complex and Bufo viridis subgroup see Stöck, Günther, and Böhme, 2001, Zool. Abh. Staatl. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden, 51: 254, and Stöck, Moritz, Hickerson, Frynta, Dujsebayeva, Eremchenko, Macey, Papenfuss, and Wake, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 41: 663–689. Stöck, Frynta, Grosse, Steinlein, and Schmid, 2001, Asiat. Herpetol. Res., 9: 81, noted that Bufo viridis sensu stricto is a diploid taxon. Balletto, Borkin, Castellano, Dujsebayeva, Eremchenko, Giacoma, Lattes, and Odierna, 2000, Riv. Idrobiol., 38: 199–220, reviewed the literature of the Bufo viridis complex and provided a discussion of phylogenetics. Lanza, 1983, Guide Reconoscimento Spec. Animali, Anf. Rett.: 107–110, reported on the Italian populations as Bufo viridis, which presumably are now, except for the northeastern part of the country, assigned to Bufotes balearicus. Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 297–301, provided an account and polygon map for Europe. Extinct in Switzerland, although being reintroduced (D. Hofer, personal commun.). Gislén and Kauri, 1959, Acta Vert., Stockholm, 1: 289–295, reported on Swedish populations (as Bufo viridis). Pikulik, 1996, Zemnavodnyia Pauzuny: 115–118, provided an account for the Belarus population. Korky, 2004, Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc., 40: 161–174, reported on larval variation in Poland. Özdemir and Kutrup, 2007, Herpetozoa, Wien, 20: 3–10, regarded their Izmir, Turkey (now reassigned to Bufotes sitibundus), and Ukraine samples as Bufo viridis. Stojanov, Tzankov, and Naumov, 2011, Die Amph. Rept. Bulgariens: 189–196, provided a fairly detailed account and range map for Bulgaria. Cogǎlniceanu, Székely, Samoilă, Iosif, Tudor, Plăiaşu, Stănescu, and Rozylowicz, 2013, ZooKeys, 296: 35–57, provided a dot map for Romania. Szabolcs, Mizsei, Jablonski, Vági, Mester, Végvári, and Lengyel, 2017, Amphibia-Reptilia, 38: 435–448, provided a dot map and discussion of range in Albania. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 155–157, provided a brief account and range map. Al-Qahtani and Al-Johany, 2018, Saudi J. Biol. Sci., 25: 1380–1386, documented and mapped three localities on the Asir Heights of southwestern Saudi Arabia, above 2500 m elevation, and briefly discussed the few relict populations noted by Balletto, Cherchi, and Gasperetti, 1985, Fauna Saudi Arabia, 7: 344–345. Martin, Guillemin, Nivet-Mazerolles, Landsmann, Dubos, and Eudeline, 2017, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 11: 93–107, discussed the range in central Uzbekistan although this identitification needs to be confirmed. Dufresnes, Mazepa, Jablonski, Oliveira, Wenseleers, Shabanov, Auer, Ernst, Koch, Ramírez-Chaves, Mulder, Simonovo, Tiutenko, Kryvokhyzhar, Wennekes, Zinenko, Korshunov, Al-Johany, Peregontsev, Masroor, Betto-Colliard, Denoël, Borkin, Skorinov, Pasynkova, Mazanaeva, Rosanov, Dubey, and Litvinchuk, 2019, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 141: 1–25, summarized the phylogenetics and biogeography of this diploid species. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 76, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map (seemingly done before the 2019 revision), as well as a photograph. Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 150–156, provided an account (as Bufo viridis) for the former USSR. Speybroeck, Beukema, Dufresnes, Fritz, Jablonski, Lymberakis, Martínez-Solano, Razzetti, Vamberger, Vences, Vörös, and Crochet, 2020, Amphibia-Reptilia, 41: 139–189, provided reasons for including Bufotes siculus, Bufotes sitibundus, and Bufotes perrini as subspecies of Bufotes viridis. Dufresnes, Lymberakis, Kornilios, Savary, and Perrin, 2018, BMC Evol. Biol., 18 (67): 1–12, reported on phylogenetics, phylogeography, and hybrid zones between Bufotes siculus (as Bufotes variabilis), Bufotes viridis, and Bufotes balearicus in the Aegean region, providing weak molecular evidence that their Naxos I. population (now Bufo viridis dionysi) is more closely related to Bufotes siculus than to Bufotes viridis, as did Dufresnes, Probonas, and Strachinis, 2021, Integrative Zool., 16: 423. Yaşar, Çiçek, Mulder, and Tok, 2021, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 17(e201512): 232–275, discussed (as both Bufotes sitibundus and Bufotes viridis) and grid-mapped the range in Turkey. Strachinis and Roussos, 2016, Herpetol. Notes, 9: 237–248, reported the species from Limnos I., northern Aegean, Greece. Höglund, Bolender, Cortazar‑Chinarro, Meurling, Laurila, Hermaniuk, and Dufresnes, 2022, Conserv. Genetics, 23: 139–149, reported on conservation genetics with special reference to populations Sweden. Mollov, Natchev, Koynova, Kambourov, Rashkov, Dimitrov, Todorov, Petrova, Vladov, and Uzunov, 2022, Ecol. Balkanica, Spec. Edit. 5: 43–74, discussed the presence of this species in protected areas of southeastern Bulgaria. Nekrasova and Marushchak, 2023, Biodiversity Data J., 11(e99036): 1–15, modeled the distribution in Ukraine. 

Comments for former Bufotes sitibundus (not yet integrated into general comments section): 

Bufotes sitibundus was removed from the synonymy of Bufotes variabilis by  Dufresnes, Mazepa, Jablonski, Oliveira, Wenseleers, Shabanov, Auer, Ernst, Koch, Ramírez-Chaves, Mulder, Simonovo, Tiutenko, Kryvokhyzhar, Wennekes, Zinenko, Korshunov, Al-Johany, Peregontsev, Masroor, Betto-Colliard, Denoël, Borkin, Skorinov, Pasynkova, Mazanaeva, Rosanov, Dubey, and Litvinchuk, 2019, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 141: 1–25 (who reported on the phylogenetics and biogeography of this diploid species), where it had been placed by Lacépède, 1788, Hist. Nat. Quadrup. Ovip. Serpens, 16mo ed., 2: 353; Lacépède, 1788, Hist. Nat. Quadrup. Ovip. Serpens, Quarto ed., 1: 586; Daudin, 1803 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Gen. Part. Rept., 8: 156; (with Rana variabilis) by Merrem, 1820, Tent. Syst. Amph.: 180, and Tschudi, 1838, Classif. Batr.: 88; and Eichwald, 1842, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 7: 159; with Bufo viridis by Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 682; Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 58; Stöck, Günther, and Böhme, 2001, Zool. Abh. Staatl. Mus. Tierkd. Dresden, 51: 259, discussed relevance of this name to Asian taxa of their Bufo viridis subgroup. Stöck, Moritz, Hickerson, Frynta, Dujsebayeva, Eremchenko, Macey, Papenfuss, and Wake, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 41: 663–689, removed Bufo variabilis from the synonymy of Bufo viridis where it had been placed by Bonnaterre, 1789, Tab. Encyclop. Method. Trois Reg. Nat., Erp.: 12 (with Rana schreberianus), by Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 153; Daudin, 1802 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Rain. Gren. Crap., Quarto: 79; Daudin, 1803 "An. XI", Hist. Nat. Gen. Part. Rept., 8: 156; Oken, 1816, Lehrb. Naturgesch., 3(2): 208; Wiegmann, 1832, in Wiegmann and Ruthe (eds.), Handbuch der Zool., Amph.: 202; Eichwald, 1842, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 7: 159; Günther, 1859 "1858", Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus.: 58; Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880:553; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 197. Tosunoglu and Tok, 1997, Turkish J. Zool., 21: 205–211, reported on morphological and osteological variation among southwestern Turkey and northeastern Greece; and Tosunoglu, 1999, Turkish J. Zool., 23: 849–871, reported on morphological, osteological, and serological variation within Turkey (as Bufo viridis). Tosunoglu, 1996, Turkish J. Zool., 20: 103–111, reported on morphometric and serological variation among populations in western and southern Anatolia and also considered the populations in southern Anatolia to be referable to Bufo viridis arabicus (although this name seems to be properly restricted to populations in southern Arabia). Başoğlu and Özeti, 1973, Türkiye Amphibileri: 89–90, provided an account for the Turkish populations (as Bufo viridis). Disi, Modry, Necas, and Rifai, 2001, Amph. Rept. Hashemite Kingdom Jordan: 93–95, provided an account (as Bufo viridis; but likely of this species) for Jordan, with images. Özeti and Yilmaz, 1994, Türkiye Amfibileri: 131–134, provided an account (as Bufo viridis) for Turkish populations. Hraoui-Bloquet, Sadek, Sindaco, and Venchi, 2002, Zool. Middle East, 27: 36, provided definitive records (as Bufo viridis) for Lebanon. Baloutch and Kami, 1995, Amph. Iran: 122–123, 124–135 (as Bufo viridis kermanensis), and 140–144 (as Bufo kavirensis) provided an account for Iran (presumably also containing samples of Bufotes perrini). Speybroeck, Beukema, and Crochet, 2010, Zootaxa, 2492: 7, rejected recognition of this taxon (as Bufo variabilis) from "Bufo" viridis pending publication of evidence beyond mtDNA. Arakelyan, Danielyan, Corti, Sindaco, and Leviton, 2011, Herpetofauna of Armenia: 40–42, provided a brief account for Armenia and environs. Fakharzadeh, Darvish, Kami, Ghasemzadeh, and Rastegar-Pouyani, 2014, Asian Herpetol. Res., 5: 168–178, reported on karyology of the Bufotes viridis complex in the southern part of Iran, showing karyotypic differences between Bufotes luristanicus, Bufotes surdus, and Bufotes variabilis (now Bufotes sitibundus). Portik and Papenfuss, 2015, BMC Evol. Biol., 15 (152): 11, suggested that the Arabian populations of the Bufotes variabilis complex deserved additional study to refine their species identity. Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, Fahimi, Broomand, Yazdanian, Najafi-Majd, Hosseinian Yousefkani, Rezazadeh, Hosseinzadeh, Nasrabadi, Mashayekhi, Motesharei, Naderi, and Kazemi, 2015, Asian Herpetol. Res., 6: 257–290, reported on distribution and conservation status in Iran. Fakharzadeh, Darvish, Kami, Ghassemzadeh, and Rastegar-Pouyani, 2018, Russ. J. Herpetol., 25: 56–60, reported on (as Bufo variabilis) karyological variation in northwestern and southeastern Iran. Oraie, Rastegar-Pouyani, Khosravani, and Adibi, 2018, Acta Zool. Bulgarica, 70: 297–303, found identical mtDNA haplotypes of nominal Bufotes kavirensis and Bufotes variabilis (now Bufotes sitibundus) in southern Iran, further justifying their synonymy. Beşir and Gül, 2019, Herpetol. Notes, 12: 45–51, provided a dot map for Rize Province, northeastern Turkey. Mulder, 2019, Amph. Rept. Conserv., 13: 162–172, reported the species from the Mount Ararat region of extreme eastern Turkey. Hraoui-Bloquet, Sadek, Sindaco, and Venchi, 2002, Zool. Middle East, 27: 36, provided records (as Bufo viridis) for Lebanon but the status of these records requires confirmation. Baloutch and Kami, 1995, Amph. Iran: 122–123, 124–135 (as Bufo viridis kermanensis), 125–126 (as Bufo viridis turanensis), 140–144 (as Bufo kavirensis) provided an account for Iran. Speybroeck, Beukema, Dufresnes, Fritz, Jablonski, Lymberakis, Martínez-Solano, Razzetti, Vamberger, Vences, Vörös, and Crochet, 2020, Amphibia-Reptilia, 41: 148, discussed their reasons for considering Bufotes sitibundus to be a subspecies of Bufotes viridis, not followed here pending some sense of stability coming out of the ongoing discussion of species/subspecies. Key to the species, synonymy, distribution (including map), and access to literature provided by Safaei-Mahroo and Ghaffari, 2020, Compl. Guide Amph. Iran: 1–331. Fakharzadeh and Hosseinzadeh, 2021, J. Wildl. Biodivers., Arak, 5: 21–34, discussed the potential distribution of the species. Litvinchuk, Svinin, and Dujsebayeva, 2021, Bonn Zool. Bull., 70: 361–371, reported on multivariate morphometrics and its application to identification. Gasimova, 2021, Biharean Biol., 15: 112–116, discussed the range (as Bufotes variabilis) in Azerbaijan, and provided a dot map. Amr, Alenezi, Al-Sayegh, and Abu Baker, 2021, Bonn Zool. Bull., 70: 253–272, provided records for Kuwait. Safaei-Mahroo, Ghaffari, and Niamir, 2023, Zootaxa, 5279: 1–112, provided for Iran an identification key including this species, photographs, habitat, conservation threats and Red List recommendation, a review of the literature, as well as dot and modeled distribution maps.

Comments for former Butotes balearicus (not yet integrated into general comments): Removed from the synonymy of Bufotes viridis by Stöck, Moritz, Hickerson, Frynta, Dujsebayeva, Eremchenko, Macey, Papenfuss, and Wake, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 41: 663–689, on the basis of molecular data, who noted this is a diploid species. See also account (as Bufo viridis) of Corsica population by Delaguerre and Cheylan, 1992, Atlas Repart. Batr. Rept. Corse: 33–34. Barbadillo-Escrivá, 1987, Guia INCAFO Anf. Rept. Peninsula Iberica: 159–162, provided an account (as Bufo viridis) for the Spanish populations. Lanza, 1983, Guide Reconoscimento Spec. Animali, Anf. Rett.: 107–110, reported on the Italian populations as Bufo viridis, which presumably are now, except for the northeastern part of the country, assigned to Bufotes balearicus. See comment by Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 176–177, regarding the distribution in the Balearics. El-Oualidi and Jaziri, 2001, Bull. Inst. Scient., Rabat, 23: 1–8, suggested that the population on Corsica is a distinct species (prior to the recognition of Bufotes balearicus). The population of "Bufo viridis" on Malta may be assignable to Bufotes balearicus but does not seem to have been addressed unambiguously (DRF). See comment under Bufotes siculus, which was previously confused with this taxon. See detailed account (as Bufo viridis) by Balletto, Bologna, and Giacoma, 2007, in Lanza et al. (eds.), Fauna d'Italia, 42 (Amph.): 304–305, for Italian populations. Rivera, Escoriza, Maluquer-Margalef, Arribas, and Carranza, 2011, Amf. Rept. Catalunya: 81–83, provided a brief account for the Balearic populations. Mateo, Ayres, and López-Jurado, 2011, Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp., 22: 4, discussed what they considered likely to be ancient introduced populations in the Balearic Islands. Pinya and Carretero, 2011, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 6: 59–80, regarded the populations on the Balearic Islands to represent ancient introductions. Dufresnes, Mazepa, Jablonski, Oliveira, Wenseleers, Shabanov, Auer, Ernst, Koch, Ramírez-Chaves, Mulder, Simonovo, Tiutenko, Kryvokhyzhar, Wennekes, Zinenko, Korshunov, Al-Johany, Peregontsev, Masroor, Betto-Colliard, Denoël, Borkin, Skorinov, Pasynkova, Mazanaeva, Rosanov, Dubey, and Litvinchuk, 2019, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 141: 1–25, provided a phylogenetic placement and summary of the knowledge of this diploid species, its range and biogeography. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 77, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph. Speybroeck, Beukema, Dufresnes, Fritz, Jablonski, Lymberakis, Martínez-Solano, Razzetti, Vamberger, Vences, Vörös, and Crochet, 2020, Amphibia-Reptilia, 41: 148, discussed their reasons for considering this taxon a subspecies of Bufotes viridis. Corti, Biaggini, Nulchis, Cogoni, Cossu, Frau, Mulargia, Lunghi, and Bassu, 2022, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 17: 125–133, reported on the range in Sardinia. 

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• For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
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