• English: East Iberian Painted Frog
• Scientific: Discoglossus jaenneae
• Castilian: Sapillo Pintojo Meridional
• Portuguese: Discoglosso-meridional
• Distribution: Southern and Eastern Spain on Limestone or gypsum terrain.

Description

The East Iberian Painted Frog – Discoglossus jaenneae – Sapillo Pintojo Meridional is a shiny, plump frog with a pointed snout that can reach a body length of up to 6cm. Most are spotted although they may occasionally have stripes and the main colour can range between green, brown, olive or yellowish. They sometimes have small warts along the body which may form lines. The underside is smooth, off-white, occasionally with brown speckles. They have four toes on the front feet that do not have webbing. The hind feet have long toes with short webbing.

Points to help in identification are that the pupils of Painted frogs differ from most as they are round or triangular in shape rather than horizontal and also in this particular species the ear drum is not visible.

They prefer still or slow moving shallow water that has good surrounding plant cover in meadows, thickets and woods, but can be found in water troughs too.

Adults are mainly crepuscular and nocturnal in habit with the younger ones also active on rainy days.

The females, which are slightly smaller, lay eggs in the water during winter and spring. She will mate with different males during this time and deposit the eggs at the bottom of the water, or in aquatic vegetation in groups of 20 to 50. These eggs hatch between 2 to 9 days later into tadpoles reaching 25 to 35mm in length. They are almost black with a uniformly shaped, translucent tail membrane that has charcoal markings. From this stage to the emergence of a tiny 1cm long frog takes between 4 to 9 weeks. It is then 3 to 5 years for them to develop into adults with their life expectancy being around 10 years.

In areas of high altitude they will hibernate during the coldest part of winter utilizing rocks or dead wood as protection. During the summer in drier areas they may aestivate in the hottest times.

Similar species

There are two similar looking species which can mainly be distinguished by their distribution:

• West Iberian Painted Frog (Discoglossus galganoi) Western and Southern Spain.

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