Head to head
Parsley Frog vs Painted Frog
The parsley frog and the painted frog share the same corner of the world, southwestern Europe and North Africa, and both belong to small, old frog families, but their party tricks are completely different.
| Parsley Frog | Painted Frog | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Pelodytidae (~3 species) | Alytidae, with the midwife toads |
| Pattern | Green flecks on grey or brown | Bold, variable blotches |
| Feeding method | Normal frog tongue flick | Cannot flick tongue; lunges and bites |
| Climbing | Agile climber despite no toe pads | Not a notable climber |
| Breeding season | Often spring and autumn | Mainly spring, extended in mild areas |
| Range | Iberia, France, the Caucasus | Iberia, France, Mediterranean islands, NW Africa |
| Claim to fame | Unusual double breeding season | A relative was a rediscovered living fossil |
| Species count | About 3 | About 4 to 5, plus the Israel painted frog |
Parsley Frog vs Painted Frog: common questions
Are the parsley frog and painted frog closely related?
Not especially, though both are old, small-bodied European frog lineages that sit outside the large modern frog families. The parsley frog belongs to its own family, Pelodytidae, with only about three species worldwide, all in southwestern Europe and the Caucasus. The painted frog belongs to Alytidae, alongside the midwife toads, a slightly larger but still ancient family. Both diverged from other frogs a very long time ago and both are sometimes grouped loosely as archaic or basal frogs, but they are not one another's closest relatives and are usually treated as separate branches that happen to share similar old-world, warm-temperate ranges.
What is the main difference in how they feed?
The painted frog cannot flick out its tongue at all, because the tongue is a fixed, disc-shaped pad anchored across the floor of the mouth rather than a flexible flap hinged at the front, so it must lunge bodily at prey and seize it directly with its jaws, sometimes helping with its front feet. The parsley frog has a normal frog tongue and feeds in the more usual way, approaching prey and flicking the tongue out to catch it, though it also relies heavily on its unusual climbing ability and agile movement through vegetation and over rock to get within range in the first place.
Why is the painted frog family famous for a living fossil?
Because one of its members, the Israel painted frog from the Hula Valley wetlands, was thought to have gone extinct in the 1950s after its habitat was drained, was formally declared extinct in 1996, and was then rediscovered in 2011 during a wetland restoration project. Study of its skeleton showed it was not a close relative of the living Discoglossus painted frogs at all but belonged to Latonia, a genus previously known only from fossils tens of millions of years old, making it a genuine living fossil. No comparable rediscovery exists in the parsley frog family, which has no extinct or presumed-extinct species with a similar story.