Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Yellow-bellied toad / Žuti mukač

Bombina variegata

Description:

The larger of the males and females are between 35 - 55 mm, making them very small for Archaeobatrachians. Their top side is grey-brown, often with washed-out, bright spots. Their underside, including the inner sides of the limbs, fingers and toes is grey-blue to black-blue with striking, bright yellow to orange spots or patches, usually covering more than half of the underside.

Habitat:

The yellow-bellied toad is an amphibian closely bound to areas of water. Originally the species typically lived along brooks and rivers. It settled there dependent on the flood dynamic of temporary and continuously shifting small bodies of water. In its replacement habitats in human civilisation it is still dependent on temporary small bodies of water on loamy ground, such as tractor trails, puddles and small ditches. Mostly these areas are bereft of vegetation and free of competing species and predators. Through the quick heating of small bodies of water a rapid development of spawn and larvae is guaranteed. These pioneer species can be found mainly in quarries, clay- and gravel-pits and on marching grounds. The superior mobility of the young of the species allows spontaneous settlement of newly discovered living spaces. On land the creatures look for hiding places under stones, dead wood and in the furrows and crevices of rocks. The yellow-bellied toad dwells in mountainous and hilly countries in middle and southern Europe. It is widely spread across the high hill area of middle and southern Germany and the Upper Rhine River Plains, but in few places.

Notes:

This one was pretty small, you can see its size comparing to the beech leaf that is covering it. It is listed as a protected animal in Nature Park Medvednica.

1 Species ID Suggestions

Yellow-bellied toad
Bombina variegata


Sign in to suggest organism ID

5 Comments

injica
injica 10 years ago

Thank you :)

MartinUrban
MartinUrban 10 years ago

great spotting ! you can tell by the triangular shaped pupils !!

injica
injica 10 years ago

Vidiš, možda, ali stvarno nisam vidjela ništa žuto, možda jer je voda bila mutna! Ok, tnx for correction guys!

Jopy
Jopy 10 years ago

i ja mislim da ovo jest žuti mukač, krastača je veća, a ovaj bi trebao imati žute pjege na trbuhu, a na nogama ima iste prugice kao i žuti mukač...

injica
injica 10 years ago

Tnx for your sugg, but I haven't seen anything yellow on it, are you sure?

injica
Spotted by
injica

Zagreb, Croatia

Spotted on Apr 19, 2013
Submitted on Apr 19, 2013

Related Spottings

vöröshasú unka bombina European Fire-bellied Toad European fire-bellied toad

Nearby Spottings

Ice Man Fungus / Bukova guba Turkey Tail Fungus Spring Snowflake / Proljetni drijemovac Spotting
Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team