Irish Amphibians

The Amphibians were the first group of animals with a back bone to live on the land. Their history is long and complex. It is thought that the Amphibians arose over 350 million years ago from a fish-like ancestor. They can, in general, move, feed and breathe equally well on land and in fresh water, but nearly all amphibians return to water to breed.

The Amphibians are divided into three groups: the Urodela (newts and salamanders), the Apoda (worm-like caecilians), and the Anura (frogs and toads). The Anura (meaning tail-less) are the largest and most widely distributed amphibian group with over 3,500 species worldwide.

There are three species of amphibian found in Ireland - the Natterjack Toad (Bufo calamita), the Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris) and the Common Frog (Rana temporaria).

Natterjack Toad (Bufo calamita) Copyright John Early

Common Frog (Rana temporaria) Copyright John Early

Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris) Copyright John Early

Here are the main differences between these 3 Irish amphibian species.

Common Frog	Natterjack Toad	Smooth Newt
Rana temporaria Loscán	Bufo calamita Cnádán	Triturus vulgaris Earc Sléibhe
Adults spend more time in water	Adults spend more time on land	Adults spend more time on land
Smooth, moist, shiny skin	Rough, drier, warty skin	On land skin is dry and rough and looks like velvet. In water the skin is smooth and moist
Long hind legs	Hind legs shorter than frog's	Short hind legs
Slender build	Round plump body	Long, stream-lined body
Jumps and crawls	Runs and crawls	Crawls
Spawn in clumps in shallow water	Spawn in single strings 2m long in deeper water	Eggs laid singly and wrapped in pond water weeds
Skin greenish brown to yellow in colour on top, paler below	Skin brownish with a long yellow stripe running down the middle of the back	Skin brown with or without spots above. Yellow-orange below with spots on male and speckles on female
Male frogs develop thickening on their fore limb digits to help them grasp grasp females in amplexus in the breeding season	Male toads develop thickening on their fore limb digits to help them grasp females in amplexus in the breeding season	Male newts develop wavy crest on their back and tail and bright colouration in the breeding season
Diet of flying insects, beetles, slugs & snails	Diet of ants, slugs, snails & woodlice	Diet of insects, worms and slugs
60-80mm long	60-80mm long	Up to 100mm long, tail half the length of the body
Males croak to attract females to breed in late January	Males croak to attract females to breed from March onwards	Males perform a courtship dance underwater to encourage females to breed from March onwards
Females produce up to 4,000 eggs which are externally fertilised by the males	Females produce 3,000 or more eggs which are externally fertilised by the males	Female produces 200-300 eggs which are internally fertilised after female ingests ball of sperm presented to her by the male
Back pair of legs develop first on tadpole	Back pair of legs develop first on tadpole	Front pair of legs develop first on the tadpole
Adults have no tail	Adults have no tail	Adults have a tail
Ponds for breeding, damp woodland farmland or peatland for adult life	Warm, shallow ponds for breeding, coastal, sandy areas for adult life.	Vegetated ponds and stagnant ditches for breeding. Scrub, woodland and long grass for adult life
Widespread distribution	Very restricted range (only in Kerry & Wexford	Widespread distribution