Common Midwife Toad

Common Midwife Toad

Alytes obstetricans

Silhouette: Steven Traver · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Lyon

In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%

23 Verified sightings at Lyon
422 In all 6 parks From 2019 to 2026
June Best month
☀️🌙 Day & Night When it's spotted

About the Common Midwife Toad

The common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans) is a species of midwife frog in the family Alytidae (formerly Discoglossidae). It is found in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (although, in the latter, only as an introduction). Like other members of its genus (Alytes), the male toad carries the eggs around entwined on his back and thighs until they are ready to hatch.

Its natural habitats are temperate forests, dry forests, shrubland, rivers, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, temperate desert, arable land, pastureland and urban areas. It is threatened by habitat loss. The common midwife toad can grow to a length of 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in) but is usually rather smaller than this, the females generally being larger than the males. It is broad and stocky and has a large head with prominent eyes, the pupils being vertical slits. The skin is mostly smooth with a few small warts and granules and a row of large warts down either side. The parotoid glands are small and there are additional glands in the under arm and ankle regions. There are three tubercles on each metacarpal. The colour is quite... Wikipedia →

Sounds

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Germany · 2026

© Henning Pehlemann · XC1099398 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Territorial call0:31

France · 2024

© Manuel Oudard · XC896444 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

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France · 2025

© Olivier SWIFT · XC1012060 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Picos de Europa National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~50%
2 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
~30%
3 Cévennes National Park 🇫🇷 France
~30%
4 Aigüestortes National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~30%
5 Mercantour National Park 🇫🇷 France
~10%
6 Sierra de Guadarrama National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Porto 🇵🇹 Portugal
~20%
2 Lyon 🇫🇷 France
~20%
3 Valencia 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
4 Paris 🇫🇷 France
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Common Midwife Toad in Lyon?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Midwife Toad sighting in Lyon on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 5 amphibians we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Common Midwife Toad in Lyon?

June

In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Common Midwife Toad in Lyon on a given day, against under 5% in March and November–January, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Common Midwife Toad?

Between 9 pm and midnight

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Midwife Toad sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.

Is Lyon the best place to see a Common Midwife Toad?

Among the best

Of the 4 cities where we can rate Common Midwife Toad sightings, Lyon ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Porto (Portugal, about 20%).

Which relatives of the Common Midwife Toad live in Lyon?

Same order: Anura

The closest relatives of the Common Midwife Toad that you can see in Lyon (order Anura, Frogs and Toads) are European Toad (about 10%) and Marsh Frog (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Common Midwife Toad sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Common Midwife Toad is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Lyon (23 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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