Pelobates cultripes (Cuvier, 1829)

Dufresnes, Christophe, Strachinis, Ilias, Tzoras, Elias, Litvinchuk, Spartak N. & Denoel, Mathieu, 2019, Call a spade a spade: taxonomy and distribution of Pelobates, with description of a new Balkan endemic, ZooKeys 859, pp. 131-158 : 134

Pelobates cultripes (Cuvier, 1829)

Diagnosis.

The largest Pelobates species, P. cultripes differs from the other Eurasian spadefoots by metatarsal spades being entirely black and a flat skull. Sizes largely overlap between sexes although males are generally smaller than females (Fig. 2). The background coloration can be yellow, gray, or brown, reticulated by dark patches; it typically lacks orange spots (Fig. 3). Average SVL = 74 mm (range: 32-105 mm) for females (n = 16 populations) and 71 mm (34-93 mm) for males (n = 17 populations) (Suppl. material 1, Table S1; Fig. 2). The karyotype consists of six large and seven small (i.e. <6% of total length) pairs of two-armed chromosomes ( Morescalchi 1967, 1971; Morescalchi et al. 1977; Schmid et al. 1987; Herrero and Talavera 1988). Large centromeric C-bands appears in pairs 1, 2, 4, 9, and 12; pericentric bands in the short arm of pair 1 and the long arm of pair 8; telomeric bands in the long arms of pairs 1, 2, and 11; the short arm of pair 7 is almost heterochromatic ( Herrero and Talavera 1988). Nucleolus organizers (NORs) are in the short arm of pair 7 ( Schmid et al. 1987). The nuclear DNA content averages 7.4 pg ( Litvinchuk et al. 2013).

Taxonomy.

First named Rana cultripes Cuvier, 1829; holotype: MNHNP 0.4554; type locality: "notre midi", corresponds to southern France, as noted by Mertens and Müller (1928). Two junior synonyms. Rana calcarata Michahelles, 1830; type locality: "prope Malagam" (near Malagam), probably Malaga, Spain; type(s): not mentioned. Cultripes provincialis Müller, 1832; type locality: “Provence” (meridional France), France; type(s): not designated, but the author refers to Rana cultripes from Paris (MNHN). First mentioned as Pelobates cultripes by Tschudi (1838).

Distribution.

The species inhabits south-western Europe (0-1770 m elevation a.s.l.) ( Sillero et al. 2014; Beja et al. 2009) (Fig. 1). Its main distribution spans across the Iberian Peninsula, where it occurs roughly everywhere in suitable habitats south of the Cantabrian Mountains and Pyrenees ( Lizana 1997; Malkmus 2004). It is yet absent from the south-eastern tip of Spain ( Lizana 1997). In France, it is present only along the Atlantic coast, from the Landes region to the Loire River, and along the Mediterranean Sea, from the Spanish border to the Var Department, reaching the area of Valence in the Rhone Valley. Some isolates exist also in south-western France ( Thirion and Cheylan 2012). IUCN status: Near Threatened ( Beja et al. 2009).

Diversity.

Combining mtDNA and microsatellite data, Gutiérrez-Rodriguez et al. (2017) identified three closely-related mtDNA haplogroups (see also Crottini et al. 2010) in the southern, western / northwestern, and northeastern parts of the range, which are mirrored by equivalent nuclear clusters that widely admix. Most of the genetic diversity of this species is found in southern ranges, where climate conditions remained stable through the last ice ages ( Gutiérrez-Rodriguez et al. 2017).