Bombina variegata (Linnaeus, 1758)

English Names

Saline Frog (Rana salsa [no longer recognized]: Shaw, 1802, Gen. Zool., 3(1): 119).

Yellow-bellied Toad (Hellmich, 1962, Rept. Amph. Eur.: 60; Arnold and Burton, 1978, Field Guide Rept. Amph. Brit. Eur.: 60; Ananjeva, Borkin, Darevsky, and Orlov, 1988, Dict. Amph. Rept. Five Languages: 51; Stumpel-Rienks, 1992, Ergänzungsband Handbuch Rept. Amph. Eur., Trivialnamen der Herpetofauna Eur.: 44; Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 201).

Yellowbelly Toad (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 38).

Mountain Toad (Hellmich, 1962, Rept. Amph. Eur.: 60).

Appenine Yellow-bellied Toad (Bombina pachypus: Di Cerbo and Ferri, 1996, Naturschutz Rep., 11: 91).

Distribution

Europe (excluding the Iberian Peninsula and peninsular Italy south of the Po River in Italy), east to southern Poland, southwestern Ukraine, Bulgaria and Greece to European Turkey; introduced into England. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine

Introduced: United Kingdom

Comment

The taxonomy of the Bombina variegata complex is inherently unstable due to how hybrid zones are interpreted. Those who favor lineage-species will look at the existing data and see several species (e.g., Bombina pachypus, Bombina scabra) while those favoring a reproductive species concept will opt for subspecies. Currently the latter is in favor, although in DRF's opinion most are doing one while claiming to do the other. Regardless, the currently most favored taxonomy is accepted for purposes of this catalog. See Poche, 1912, Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, 61: 403–405, for initial sorting of Bombina bombina and Bombina variegata. See Arntzen, 1978, J. Biogeograph., 5: 335–345, for detailed statement of distribution. Lanza, 1983, Guide Reconoscimento Spec. Animali, Anf. Rett.: 83–86, provided an account of Bombina bombina pachypus. Schneider, Hussein, and Mamdouh, 1986, Bonn. Zool. Beitr., 37: 49–67, documented strong interpopulational variation of call structures. Gollmann, 1987, Amphibia-Reptilia, 8: 213–224, reported on hybridization with Bombina bombina in Hungary. Lang, 1988, Brit. Herpetol. Soc. Bull., 26: 6–13, summarized the subspecies and their distribution. Bombina pachypus was removed from the synonymy of Bombina variegata on the basis of genetic distance by Lanza and Vanni, 1991 "1990", in Internatl. Symp. Biogeograph. Aspects of Insularity: 335–344, and on the basis of morphology by (Nascetti, Vanni, Bullini, and Lanza, 1982, Boll. Zool., Padua, 49 (Suppl.): 134–135, where it had been placed by Bonaparte, 1840, Mem. Accad. Sci. Torino, Ser. 2, 2: 446, and Duméril and Bibron, 1841, Erp. Gen., 6: 488 (and with Bombinator igneus by Bonaparte, 1840, Icon. Faun. Ital., 2 (Introd.): preface, unnumbered). Nöllert and Nöllert, 1992, Die Amph. Eur.: 257–261, provided an account and polygon map. Szymura and Gollmann, 1996, Naturschutz Rep., 11: 9–15, documented strong electrophoretically distinctions between Bombina variegata variegata, Bombina variegata pachypus, and Bombina variegata scabra. Gollmann, Szymura, Arntzen, and Pialek, 1997, in Gasc et al. (eds.), Atlas Amph. Rept. Eur.: 98–99, discussed relevant literature and distribution. See accouns by Kuzmin, 1999, Amph. Former Soviet Union: 201–206, and Kuzmin, 2013, Amph. Former Soviet Union, Ed. 2: 115–117, for the former USSR. Braida, 2002, Riv. Idrobiol., 40: 239–246, discussed the distribution in Liguria, Italy. Arnold, 2002, Rept. Amph. Eur., Ed. 2: 52, provided a brief account, figure, and map (in the sense of including Bombina pachypus as a subspecies). Lever, 2003, Naturalized Rept. Amph. World: 140, reported on introduced populations in the vicinity of Devon, England. Barbieri, Bernini, Guarino, and Venchi, 2004, Boll. Zool., Padua, 71: 85–90, reported on distribution and conservation status in Italy. Fromhage, Vences, and Veith, 2004, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 31: 308–322, provided molecular data consistent with the recognition of Bombina pachypus but retained it as a member of Bombina variegata. Vörös, Alcobendas, Martínez-Solano, and García-París, 2005, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 38: 705–718, reported on mtDNA introgression of Bombina bombina and Bombina variegata in the Carpathian Basin and Spolsky, Szymura, and Uzzell, 2006, J. Zool. Syst. Evol. Res., 44: 100-104, suggested that the mtDNA data suggested two Pleistocene refugia for Bombina variegata. Canestrelli, Cimmaruta, Costantini, and Nascetti, 2006, Mol. Ecol., 15: 3741–3754, discussed molecular phylogeography and Pleistocene biogeography of nominal Bombina pachypus in Ital. Bosman, Laan, and van Delft, 2009, in Creemers and van Delft (eds.), Amph. Rept. Nederland: 142–153, provided an account for the species in the Netherlands. Stojanov, Tzankov, and Naumov, 2011, Die Amph. Rept. Bulgariens: 159–167, provided a fairly detailed account and range map for Bulgaria. Cogǎlniceanu, Székely, Samoilă, Iosif, Tudor, Plăiaşu, Stănescu, and Rozylowicz, 2013, ZooKeys, 296: 35–57, provided a dot map for Romania. See detailed account by Lanza, Andreone, Bologna, Corti, and Razzetti, 2007, in Lanza et al. (eds.), Fauna d'Italia, 42 (Amph.): 277–280, for Italian population. Yu, Yang, Zhang, and Rao, 2007, J. Herpetol., 41: 365–377, suggested that Bombina pachypus is the sister taxon of Bombina variegatus. Hofman, Spolsky, Uzzell, Cogǎlniceanu, Babik, and Szymura, 2007, Mol. Ecol., 16: 2301–2316, discussed phylogeography of Bombina bombina and Bombina variegata and disputed the species distinctiveness of Bombina pachypus, although their results are also consistent with recognition of additional species within nominal Bombina variegata (DRF). Zheng, Fu, and Li, 2009, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 52: 70–83, reported molecular evidence on the phylogenetics of populations within the nominal species. Speybroeck, Beukema, and Crochet, 2010, Zootaxa, 2492: 6, discussed their reasons from considering Bombina pachypus a subspecies of Bombina variegata. Fijarczyk, Nadachowska, Hofman, Litvinchuk, Babik, Stuglik, Gollmann, Choleva, Cogǎlniceanu, Vukov, Džukić, and Szymura, 2011, Mol. Ecol., 20: 3381–339, also regarded Bombina pachypus as a diagnosable subspecies of Bombina bombina, but this is a concept- rather than data-based difference of opinion. Mori and Giovani, 2012, Herpetol. Notes, 5: 407–412, documented the disappearance of this species in areas of Tuscany, Italy. Pabijan, Wandycz, Hofman, Węcek, Piwczyński, and Szymura, 2013, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 69: 63–74, considered their Bombina variegata scabra of the Carpathians to be the sister taxon of Bombina pachypus + Bombina scabra (of the western Balkans), but treated them as subspecies. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 135–137, provided a brief account (as Bombina variegata pachypus). Guicking, Finke, Wittich, Pfeiffer, Veith, Geske, Braukmann, Weising, and Neubeck, 2017, Salamandra, 53: 201–211, reported on conservation genetics in northern Hesse, Germany. Speybroeck, Beukema, Bok, and Van Der Voort, 2016, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Brit. Eur.: 135–137, provided a brief account (in the sense of including Bombina pachypus) and distribution map. Szabolcs, Mizsei, Jablonski, Vági, Mester, Végvári, and Lengyel, 2017, Amphibia-Reptilia, 38: 435–448, provided a dot map and discussion of range in Albania.  Bülbül, Kurnaz, Eroğlu, Koç, and Kutrup, 2018, Russ. J. Herpetol., 25: 236–238, mapped the range in Turkey and discussed its conservation and threat conditions. Weihmann, Weihmann, and Weihmann, 2019, Conserv. Genetics, 20: 557–569, reported on conservation genetics of populations, native, and introduced in Lower Saxony, Germany. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 44, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology as well as a range map and photograph (see p. 194 for photographs and map of subspecies). Pop, Lucaci, and Covaciu-Marcov, 2019, Herpetol. Notes, 12: 1001–1004, reported the species in southern Romanian Moldavia. Dufresnes, Suchan, Smirnov, Denoël, Rosanov, and Litvinchuk, 2021, J. Biogeograph., 48: 548–560, reported on hybridization and introgression with Bombina bombina in Poland and Ukraine. See Dufresnes, 2019, Amph. Eur., N. Afr., & Middle East: 45, for brief summary of identifying morphology and biology as well as a range map and photograph. Pröhl, Auffarth, Bergmann, Buschmann, and Balkenhol, 2021, Conserv. Genetics, 22: 513–529, reported on landscape genetics in Germany. Boyer, Cayuela, Bertrand, and Isselin‐Nondedeu, 2021, J. Biogeograph., 48: 561–576, discussed how taking into account the different lineages within the complex that is Bombina variegata improved niche modelling. Yaşar, Çiçek, Mulder, and Tok, 2021, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 17(e201512): 232–275, discussed and grid-mapped the range in Turkey. Hantzschmann, Sinsch, Göttlicher, and Pröhl, 2021, Conserv. Genetics, 22: 83–96, reported on conservation genetics in the northern and western part of the range. Mollov, Natchev, Koynova, Kambourov, Rashkov, Dimitrov, Todorov, Petrova, Vladov, and Uzunov, 2022, Ecol. Balkanica, Spec. Edit. 5: 43–74, discussed the presence of this species in protected areas of southeastern Bulgaria. Gál, Kovács, Ujszegiu, Anthony, Vági, and Hoffmann, 2022, North-West. J. Zool., Romania, 18: 51–57, reported on a hybrid zone with Bombina bombina in the Carpathian Basin of Hungary and Slovakia.  Tzoras, Foufopoulos, Volz, Troidl, Troidl, and Jablonski, 2023, Salamandra, 59: 92–95, discussed haplotype phylogeography in Greece and suggested that the population found on Paros I. is introduced. Mezzasalma, Puntillo, and Brunelli, 2023, Herpetol. Notes, 16: 881–884, reported a population from the Silan Plateau, Municipality of Savelli, Crotone Province, southern Italy. Pafilis and Kapsalas, 2024, Herpetozoa, Wien, 37: 21–23, provided a record from the southern part of Euboaea Island, Greece.  

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• For information on distribution, habitat, and conservation see the Map of Life
• For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist
• For access to available specimen data for this species, from over 350 scientific collections, go to Vertnet.