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Systematic classification and distribution
Class: Amphibians
Order: Anura
Family: Bombinatoridi
Kind: Bombina
Species: B. pachypus
It is an Italian endemic species: it is found south of the river Po, along the whole Apennine ridge up to Calabria; it is absent in Sicily, Sardinia and the smaller islands.
Distinctive characters
The dimensions are less than 6 centimeters.
It is a species very similar to Variegated bomb (Yellow-bellied toad). It has rough skin with small glandular growths. The pupil has a heart shape.
The dorsal part has a brownish color with gray shades and dark patches of very variable extension. The belly is yellow speckled with black. Usually, in the chest region, there are two yellow spots separate from the others. As in B. variegated the males, of body size similar to the females, present during the reproductive season blackish horny growths on the inner surface of the first fingers of the front legs and on the inner face of the forearms.
Biology
The breeding season lasts about 7 months (from April to October) but there are three highs in the months of May, June and in the second half of July (if the environments have not dried up). These anurans tend to return to reproduce every year in the same biotopes. The eggs, which measure about 2 mm, are laid in a much smaller number than other amphibians, a few dozen; the larvae hatch after 10-25 days. The tadpole measures less than 1 cm at the egg hatch. The color of the larva is brown, white in the ventral area.
Italian or Apennine Ululone (photo www.anfibi.org)
Italian or Apennine Ululone (photo shunkamanitotanka)
