Amphibians

Painted Frog

Discoglossus · also called painted frog

Least Concern → carnivoreinsectivore Rivers & wetlands Temperate forest Temperate grassland

A painted frog is a modest, blotchy little frog of Mediterranean ditches and pools — but it belongs to an ancient branch of the frog family that never learned the basic frog trick of firing its tongue. And one of its close relatives pulled off something almost no animal manages: it came back from being officially extinct, and turned out to be a living fossil.

Overview

Painted frogs are the genus Discoglossus, small variably blotched frogs of Iberia, southern France, northwest Africa, and the western Mediterranean islands. They stay near shallow, often temporary water — ponds, ditches, springs, even brackish coastal pools — and hunt insects and other invertebrates at night.

A tongue that stays put

Painted frogs and their relatives the midwife toads have a disc-shaped tongue fixed to the floor of the mouth — it cannot be flipped out. To feed, the frog lunges bodily at prey and grabs it in its jaws, sometimes shoving it in with its hands. This and other old features mark the family (Alytidae, or Discoglossidae, “disc-tongue”) as a distinct early branch.

Back from extinction

The Israel painted frog of the Hula Valley was last seen in the 1950s after its marsh was drained, and declared extinct in 1996. In 2011 it was rediscovered during a wetland restoration — and its bones showed it belongs to Latonia, a genus otherwise known only from fossils millions of years old. A living fossil, hiding.

Status

Least Concern for the mainland Discoglossus painted frogs, which are common and adaptable. The rediscovered Latonia painted frog is Critically Endangered, confined to a tiny patch of restored Israeli wetland.

Painted Frog: common questions

Why can't a painted frog stick out its tongue?

Because of how the tongue is built. In most frogs the tongue is attached at the front of the mouth and folded back, so it can be flipped forward like a party blower to snag prey. In painted frogs and their relatives the tongue is a rounded disc anchored across the floor of the mouth and cannot be projected at all. To feed, the frog has to move its whole body, lunging at prey and grabbing it with a snap of the jaws, occasionally using its front feet to stuff a struggling insect in. It is one of the features that marks the family as an old, distinct branch of the frog tree.

What is the Israel painted frog, and how was it rediscovered?

It is a frog from the marshes of the Hula Valley in northern Israel that was known from only a handful of specimens, was last recorded in the 1950s after most of the valley was drained for farming, and was formally declared extinct in 1996. In 2011, as part of a project to restore a small area of the wetland, a ranger caught one, and further searches found more. Analysis of its skeleton then revealed something remarkable, in that it is not a close relative of the living painted frogs but a member of Latonia, a genus previously known only from fossils, so it is a true living fossil that had survived unnoticed.

Are painted frogs the same as poison dart frogs?

No, they are not related and the resemblance is only in the name and the bold markings. Painted frogs are plain-toned European and North African frogs of the family Alytidae, they are not toxic in any significant way, and they get their name from their blotchy, varied colour pattern. Poison dart frogs are small, often brilliantly coloured, genuinely toxic frogs of Central and South American rainforests in a completely different family. The two live on different continents and are only superficially alike.

Where would I see a painted frog?

Around shallow water in the warmer parts of southwestern Europe and northwest Africa. Painted frogs like small, sunny, often temporary or disturbed water bodies, such as garden ponds, cattle troughs, irrigation ditches, spring pools, wheel ruts, and quiet stream edges, including some that are slightly salty near the coast. They are mostly nocturnal, are quick to dive and hide, and have only a faint call, so they are usually found by turning stones and debris at the water's edge or by spotting one at night with a torch, rather than heard.

Sources & further reading

Written by HideShark Editorial Team · reviewed by HideShark Science Desk. Published September 11, 2026. Last updated September 11, 2026.

Quick facts

Scientific name: Discoglossus
Diet: Small invertebrates caught at night at the water's edge and in damp surroundings, including insects, spiders, woodlice, worms, and snails, seized with a lunge and a snap of the jaws rather than with the tongue
A tongue that cannot be thrown: Painted frogs belong to an old lineage in which the tongue is a rounded disc fixed to the floor of the mouth, so unlike a typical frog they cannot flip the tongue out to catch prey, and instead they lunge forward and grab food directly with their jaws, sometimes pushing it in with their hands
The disc-tongued frogs: The family, Alytidae, also called Discoglossidae for the disc tongue, contains the painted frogs and the midwife toads, and its members keep several primitive features and were once thought to be among the most ancient living frogs
Painted by name: Painted frogs are boldly and variably marked, with dark blotches, spots, or stripes, often edged in pale, on a background of brown, grey, reddish, or greenish, and the pattern differs so much between individuals that early naturalists described the same species several times
Back from extinction: The Israel painted frog, a close relative from the Hula Valley wetlands, was last seen in the 1950s and declared extinct in 1996 after its marsh was drained, then rediscovered in 2011, and study of its bones showed it belongs to Latonia, a genus otherwise known only as fossils millions of years old, making it a living fossil
Quick, quiet breeders: Painted frogs can breed at almost any time of year when conditions are right, often several times, laying eggs in small batches that sink and scatter over the bottom of a pool, and the males have only a soft, low call given mostly underwater, so choruses are easy to miss
Water frogs of the southwest: The living Discoglossus painted frogs are frogs of Iberia, southern France, northwest Africa, and several Mediterranean islands, staying close to shallow, often temporary water such as ponds, ditches, springs, streams, and even brackish coastal pools, and remaining active later into the cold season than many frogs
Range: Southwestern Europe and northwest Africa, including the Iberian Peninsula, southern and western France, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, and parts of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, in and beside shallow fresh and sometimes brackish water such as ponds, ditches, springs, wells, slow streams, and temporary pools, from the coast into the hills, with the related Latonia painted frog confined to the Hula Valley in Israel.
Conservation status: Least Concern → ≈ The mainland painted frogs of the genus Discoglossus are mostly common, adaptable, and assessed as Least Concern, using a wide range of natural and artificial water bodies, though some island populations and the Moroccan species face pressure from wetland drainage, pollution, water extraction, and introduced fish and crayfish. The dramatic case is the Israel painted frog, now in the genus Latonia, which was thought globally extinct for decades and is classed as Critically Endangered, known from a tiny area of the restored Hula wetlands in northern Israel, where its habitat is being expanded and protected in the wild