midwife toad

American  

noun

1. a European toad, Alytes obstetricans (family Discoglossidae), noted for its unusual breeding habits, in which mating occurs on land and the male broods the egg strings by wrapping them around his legs.

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midwife toad British  

noun

1. a European toad, Alytes obstetricans, the male of which carries the fertilized eggs on its hind legs until they hatch: family Discoglossidae

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Etymology

Origin of midwife toad

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Among the creatures to have settled in Britain after being accidentally brought to the island is the midwife toad.

From BBC

Other amphibians such as the Mallorcan midwife toad in Spain and the Kihansi spray toad of Tanzania have been bred and reintroduced from just a few individuals in the past.

From BBC

The lucky recipient of this experiment is the Majorcan midwife toad, a species once thought to be extinct that was rediscovered in the 1980s in several isolated ponds in the island’s limestone outcrops.

From New York Times

They said it was driven by the urgency of the decline in the Mallorcan midwife toad on the island.

From BBC

Meanwhile, in southeast continental Spain, which has a similar geographical landscape to Mallorca, Bosch and his colleagues are using their method to try to protect populations of the Betic midwife toad.

From Nature