Alytes Wagler, 1830

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Alytidae > Genus: Alytes
6 species

Alytes Wagler, 1830, Nat. Syst. Amph.: 206. and Wagler, 1830, Descript. Icon. Amph., Livr. 2: 11. Type species: Bufo obstetricans Laurenti, 1768, by monotypy.

Obstetricans Dugès, 1834, Rech. Osteol. Myol. Batr.: 7. Type species: Bufo obstetricans Laurenti, 1768, by tautonomy. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 448.

Ammoryctis Lataste, 1879, C. R. Hebd. Séances Acad. Sci., Paris, 88: 983. Type species: Alytes cisternasii Boscá, 1879, by monotypy. Synonymy by Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 448. Regarded as a subgenus of Alytes by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 12.

Baleaphryne Sanchíz and Adrover, 1979 "1977", Doñana, Acta Vert., 4: 6. Type species: Baleaphryne muletensis Sanchíz and Adrover, 1977, by original designation. Synonymy by Clarke, 1984, in Alcover (ed.), Hist. Bioògica Ferreret: 45–59, and Maxson and Szymura, 1985 "1984", Amphibia-Reptilia, 5: 248. Regarded as a subgenus of Alytes by Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 12.

Common Names

Midwife Toads (Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 50; Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 51).

Distribution

Europe, with the exception of the northern and eastern part; northwestern Africa.

Comment

Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 12, recognized 3 monotypic (at the time) subgenera: Alytes, Baleaphryne, and Ammoryctis. Arntzen and García-París, 1995, Bijdr. Dierkd., 65: 5-34, Arntzen and García-París, 1997, Bijdr. Dierkd., 66: 263–268, and Altaba, 1997, Bijdr. Dierkd., 66: 257–262, discussed phylogeny and biogeography. Martínez-Solano, Gonçalves, Arntzen, and García-París, 2004, J. Biogeograph., 31: 603–618, provided a comprehensive revision and phylogenetic analysis of the genus, providing a corroborated topology of Alytes cisternasii (Alytes obstetricans (Alytes maurus (Alytes dickhilleni + Alytes muletensis)))). Fromhage, Vences, and Veith, 2004, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 31: 308-322, reported on phylogeography of the genus in the western Mediterranean region based on neighbor-joining trees of mtDNA, suggesting a phylogeny of Alytes cisternasii ((Alytes dickhilleni (Alytes muletensis + Alytes maurus)) (Alytes boscai + Alytes obstetricans)). Gonçalves, Martínez-Solano, Ferrand de Almeida, and García-París, 2007, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 44: 494-500, reported on phylogenetics,  discordance between mtDNA and nuDNA signal, and apparent hybridization among species in the Iberian Peninsula. Maia-Carvalho, Gonçalves, Ferrand de Almeida, and Martínez-Solano, 2014, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 79: 270–278, reported on molecular phylogenetics and suggested a tree of Alytes cisternasii + (Alytes obstetricans + (Alytes muletensis + (Alytes maurus + Alytes dickhilleni))). Martínez-Gil, Martínez-Freiría, Perera, Enriquez-Urzelai, Martínez-Solano, Velo-Antón, and Kaliontzopoulou, 2022, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 135: 462–477, examined, within a phylogenetic framework, phenotypic and climatic diversity of the species. Ambu, Martínez-Solano, Suchan, Hernandez, Wielstra, Crochet, and Dufresnes, 2023, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 183 (107783): 1–8, discussed mt- and nuDNA discordance in the phylogenetics of the group and arrived at a phylogeny of Alytes cisternasii + ((Alytes almogavarii + Alytes obstetricans) + (Alytes maurus + (Alytes dickehilleni + Alytes muletensis))). Martínez-Gil, Martínez-Freiría, Perera, Enriquez-Urzelai, Martínez-Solano, Velo-Antón, and Kaliontzopoulou, 2022, Biol. J. Linn. Soc., 135: 462–477, examined, within a phylogenetic framework, phenotypic and climatic diversity of the species.  

Contained taxa (6 sp.):

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