The European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina ) is a species of fire-bellied toad native to eastern parts of mainland Europe, where it can be found near waterbodies such as ponds and marshes. It is known for its red colored belly used to ward off predators, an example of aposematism, and its distinctive "whoop" call.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Jumping (saltation) can be distinguished from running, galloping, and other gaits where the entire body is temporarily airborne by the relatively l...
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starts withThe European fire-bellied toad is a medium sized frog, growing up to approximately 5.6 centimetres (2+3⁄16 in). The dorsal coloration can vary from gray to brown to green, while the stomach is red with thick black mottling. The backs of these frogs are covered in warts.
When threatened by a predator, the fire-bellied toad will lift up its arms (sometimes flipping over) to expose its red coloration and show off its toxicity to the potential predator. This is known as Unkenreflex, and is an example of aposematism.
The European fire-bellied toad is found throughout Central and Eastern Europe. More particularly, its range starts in eastern Germany (including eastern Denmark and parts of southern Sweden), and then east to the Volga District of Russia where they are stopped by the Ural Mountains. The frog's most southern range is Bulgaria and the Marmara Region of Turkey.
There is an introduced population of European fire-bellied toads in Lorraine, France, over 500 kilometres (310 mi) away from their natural range in eastern Germany. This population was first discovered in 2009 in Moselle but has since been found in several other nearby locations up to 30 kilometres (19 mi) away, which suggests they were moved by humans intentionally. They can potentially impact the local yellow-bellied toads through hybridization.
While they are listed as "Least Concern" by the ICUN, this frog has been suffering some losses throughout its range. For example, 15 known breeding populations of these frogs were identified in Denmark in 1974, but by 1988 only 8 of those populations remained. In the Puszcza Romincka Landscape Park in Poland, the fire-bellied toad was described as uncommon, rare in the Coastal Landscape Park, and in an amphibian survey in Warsaw the fire-bellied toad only made up 9% of the observed species. However, in some areas they are recovering through human intervention, such as in Funen County, Denmark, where dozens of ponds were dug for the frogs to live and breed in, increasing their population approximately five-fold in a decade.
This frog generally prefers to live in lowland areas such as ponds and marshes without too much woody vegetation. In larger lakes these frogs will stay on the edges (50 to 70 centimetres (20 to 28 in) deep) in reed beds and floodplains. They feed on all sorts of small invertabrates, in particular springtails, beetles, flies, and ants. In return, the frogs are preyed on by many other animals such as snakes and birds, while tadpoles are eaten by leeches and fish.
They will typically hibernate once temperatures dip down to 4 °C (39 °F), during which they burrow into soil or a rotting log and remain in a state of torpor until spring. Breeding commences once temperatures reach 16 °C (61 °F) and is usually done at night time or early morning, where females will deposit up to 15 to 40 eggs depending on their size. Tadpoles are born in about a week and develop for approximately a month before metamorphosing at a size of about 3.8 centimetres (1+1⁄2 in)).
