NEWS108
43
hereare three speciesof toad incen-
tral Europe, the European Common
Toad (
Bufobufo
),theEuropeanGreenToad
(
Bufoviridis
),and theNatterjackToad (
Bufo
calamita
). But worldwide there aremore
than250speciesand thatmakes the toads
the most species-rich genus among the
batrachians.Orshould thatbe "made"?Be-
cause, as everywhere, zoologists have en-
thusiastically seizedon the newopportu-
nity to use DNA analysis to gainnew in-
sights into thephylogenetic relationships
T
Tomanypeople toads are theepitomeof theugly, slimy,and slippery - in
short, they find them repulsive.But animal owners arequitedifferent,and
from the verybeginningof the terrariumhobby around1880 toads have
found enthusiastic devotees.Andwhodoesn't remember Catweazle's fa-
miliar,Touchwood the toad?
Charming toads (1)
byVolker Ennenbach
of thevarious toad species. Interpretation
of theseDNA analyses shows that
Bufo
in
the traditional sense doesn't represent a
single evolutionary lineage (iemonophy-
letic),but that the toad specieshistorically
united in
Bufo
derive fromseveralevolutio-
nary lineages (iepolyphyletic).Becausege-
nera have tobemonophyletic assembla-
ges,awholemassofnew toadgenerawere
subsequently erected and old names re-
surrected.
Amphibians
...and so is thispair, inwhich the female isa splendidgoldenyellow.
Allphotos:FrankSchäfer
CommonToads canbe very variable in color.
Thispair is fromAalborg inDenmark...
...andthispair isalso fromAalborg ...
Toad tadpoles are always black and always
swim in swarms. The spawnof
Bufo
species is
always laid in strings (notballs).
CommonToad fromtheareaaroundDarmstadt,
Germany.
Following thenewsystematics,only17spe-
cies currently still belong to
Bufo
Garsault,
1764,specificallytheveryclosestrelativesof
theCommonToad.Andmanyof thespecies
were formerly regardedonly as subspecies
of
Bufo bufo
. The European Green Toad is
now inBufotesRafinesque,1815 (14species)
andtheNatterjackToad inthemonotypic (=
contains only one species) genus
Epidalea
Cope,1864.Butoneshouldn'ttreatthisDNA-
based systematics as gospel, asmuchof it
appearsopen toscrutiny.
Inthecoming issuesoftheNewswewill look
