Common midwife toad

A European amphibian, Alytes obstetricans, whose males carry fertilized egg strings wrapped around their hind legs until the eggs hatch.

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Amplexus: A mating embrace in which a male amphibian clasps a female and fertilization typically occurs externally. The male acquires the fertilized eggs during mating before winding them around his legs.
Alytes: A genus of small European frogs known as midwife toads. Alytes obstetricans is the genus's best-known species and the source of the common name.
IUCN Red List: A global assessment system that classifies species' extinction risk using standardized criteria. Its assessment summarizes the common midwife toad's conservation status across its range.
Pyrenean midwife toad: A mountain-dwelling subspecies of the common midwife toad found in the Pyrenees. It is a named regional form adapted to high-altitude habitats.
External fertilization: Reproduction in which sperm fertilizes eggs outside the female's body. The eggs carried by the male are fertilized outside the female.
Laurenti's New Annals of the Reptiles: A 1768 zoological work by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti describing numerous amphibians and reptiles. Laurenti formally described the species as Bufo obstetricans in this work.
Chytridiomycosis: An infectious amphibian disease caused by chytrid fungi, including Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Chytrid infection has contributed to declines in some populations of the species.
Betic midwife toad: A subspecies of common midwife toad native to parts of southeastern Spain. Its restricted range illustrates the species' geographic variation.
Parental care in amphibians: Behaviors by amphibians that protect or provision eggs or young after reproduction. Egg-carrying is a distinctive form of care within the broader range of amphibian parenting.
Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti: An Austrian naturalist whose 1768 work helped establish systematic classification of amphibians and reptiles. He published the original scientific description of the common midwife toad.