Alytes Wagler, 1830

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

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

Obstretricans 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.

English 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 and apparent hybridization among species.

Contained taxa

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