An exclusively Catalan frog?

Well, not quite “exclusively” in that its “cousins” exist also on the Islands of Malta and Gozo, as well as other North African and South Italian Mediterranean coastal locations, but, in France, it is known to exist only in the Pyrénées Orientales

Painted Frog (Discoglossus pictus scovazzi)

From the P-O, it’s territory extends southwards to cover the northern coastal region of the Costa Brava… so as far as France and Spain are concerned, it is a “Catalan Frog !”

The Painted Frog (Discoglossus pictus scovazzi) is a very local variety, originally introduced to this area from Morocco.  This rather pretty little fellow has a voice which sounds (as described by a prominent herpetologist) “somewhat like the hushed chuckle a person might make in a library”, i.e. somewhat more restrained than the strident voices of some more vociferous cousins!

Seen in and around left over pools of the dried up river Pouy in the valley behind Collioure leading up to the “Consolation“.

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