Bufotes boulengeri (Lataste, 1879)

Common Names

African Green Toad (Beukema, de Pous, Donaire-Barroso, Bogaerts, Garcia-Porta, Escoriza, Arribas, El Mouden, and Carranza, 2013, Zootaxa, 3661: 42). 

Sicilian Green Toad (Bufotes boulengeri siculus: Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 79).

Distribution

North Africa from northern Western Sahara and Morocco (including the Spanish enclave of Melilla),  east through Algeria (in isolated populations), Tunisia, and Libya, to and including the Nile Valley in Egypt, as well as Sicily, Favigana, Ustica, and Lampedusa islands, Italy. See comment. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Algeria, Egypt, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Western Sahara

Comment

Recognized as a distinct species by Stöck, Moritz, Hickerson, Frynta, Dujsebayeva, Eremchenko, Macey, Papenfuss, and Wake, 2006, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 41: 663–689, and removed from the synonymy of Bufo viridis, where it had been placed by Boulenger, 1881 "1880", Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880: 553; Boulenger, 1882, Cat. Batr. Sal. Coll. Brit. Mus., Ed. 2: 297. Stöck et al., 2006, also noted an unnamed species (now Bufotes boulengeri siculus) in Sicily, Italy. See also Kete, 1992, Turkish J. Zool., 16: 60–70, who seemingly applied the name Bufo arabicus (as a subspecies of Bufo viridis) to this population and who mapped the subspecies in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.See Salvador, 1996, Smithson. Herpetol. Inform. Serv., 109, for account (as Bufo viridis) of North African population. Frynta, Kratochvil, Moravec, Benda, Dandova, Kaftan, Klosova, Mikulova, Nova, and Schwarzova, 2000, Acta Soc. Zool. Bohem., 64: 20, implied that populations (as Bufo viridis) in the southern oases of Libya might require taxonomic recognition. Baha El Din, 2006, Guide Rept. Amph. Egypt: 35–36, provided an account for Egypt (as Bufo viridis). Géniez, Mateo, Geniez, and Pether, 2004, Amph. Rept. W. Sahara: 31–32, provided an account (as Bufo viridis) for Western Sahara. Ibrahim, 2008, Acta Herpetol., Firenze, 3: 35–49, reported the species from southwestern Libya (as Bufo viridis). Donaire-Barroso, Beukema, de Pous, and del Canto-Gonzalez, 2011, Herpetol. Notes, 3: 71–74, discussed the range in the Rif Mountains of Morocco. Beukema, de Pous, Donaire-Barroso, Bogaerts, Garcia-Porta, Escoriza, Arribas, El Mouden, and Carranza, 2013, Zootaxa, 3661: 42–44, provided a brief account for Morocco. See comments on distribution and population status in Egypt by Ibrahim, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 109. Amor, Kalboussi, and Said, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 85–100, discussed the range in Tunisia and its conservation status. Reques, Pleguezuelos, Busack, and de Pous, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 23–50, discussed the range and conservation status in Morocco and Western Sahara. Mateo, Géniez, and Pether, 2013, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 27: 51–83, provided a range map, comments on the range and population status in Algeria. See comments on ecology and distribution in Marocco (as Bufo viridis) by Guillon, Le Liard, and Slimani, 2004, Bull. Soc. Herpetol. France, 2004: 37–48. Mediani, Brito, and Fahd, 2015, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 29: 81–107, provided a dot map for northern Morocco. Nicolas, Mataame, Crochet, Géniez, Fahd, and Ohler, 2018, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 56: 102–116, reported on molecular phylogeography as Bufotes boulengeri boulengeri. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 155–157, provided a brief account and range map for Europe. See detailed account for North Africa by Escoriza and Ben Hassine, 2019, Amph. N. Afr.: 159–168. 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, recognizing two subspecies, Bufotes boulengeri siculus from Sicily and nearby islands and Bufotes boulengeri boulengeri from North Africa. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 56–57, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map for the African component of the range. Mabrouki, Taybi, Skalli, and Sánchez-Vialas, 2019, Basic & Appl. Herpetol., 33: 19–32, commented on and mapped the species in the Mouloua River Basin and adjacent areas in eastern Morocco. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 78 (as Bufotes siculus) and p. 79 (as Bufotes boulengeri), for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology, a range map, as well as a photograph. Discussion of range in Libya with dot map of distribution in that country provided by Blackburn, Nielsen, and Jdeidi, 2022, Herpetol. Rev., 53: 211–219. 

   

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