History and origin
The Tyrrhenian painted frog was first described by Tschudi in 1837, the scientific name of this species is Discoglossus sardus. Discoglossus comes from Greek and is composed of two words, the first meaning 'disc' and the second meaning 'tongue', this name is given because of their disc-like tongue. Sardus comes from Latin and means 'Sardinian'.

Characteristics
They are characterised by their amazingly large sperm, they measure up to 2.5 mm long, and are visible to the un-aided eye!

Description
=Size=
- Eggs: The eggs measure about 5 mm in diameter.
- Tadpoles: The tadpoles measure 35 mm long maximum.
- Juveniles: The juveniles measure 8 mm long at least when they exit the water.
- Adults: Adults measure up to 70 mm long (males max.: 70 mm ; females max.: 75 mm).
=Morphology=
- Eggs: They are laid in separate balls in small clutches of up to 50 eggs. Total eggs laid is up to 1500.
- Tadpoles: Tail doesn't come on top of the back. The tail is about 1.5 times the body length. Eyes are almost on the back, they are very close to one another. Tail ends rounded.
- Adults: They are similar to D.pictus, they are smaller and more robust their snout is pointed, which allows for an identification from Discoglossus montalentii. The back is quite warty and arranged in broken up lines. They have a flattened head which makes their eyes seem prominent. The have round pupils, they lack paratoid glands and vocal sacs.
=Patterns & colours=
- Eggs: They are small black embryos inside a transparent casing.
- Tadpoles: They are gray, brown, blackish, the tail is lighter.
- Adults: The pattern is made of irregular blotches of different forms, these blotches are sometimes linked together. These blotches are a darker shade of the background colour of that specimen. The background colour may vary from brown, yellow, greenish, olive, pale brown or even pinkish. There is always a light line or bar linking the two eyes together, this line passes on top of the head. Their eyes are darker on the lower half and light golden colour on the upper half. The belly is whitish or yellowish.

Geographical range
They are found on Corsica, most of Sardinia, the Tuscan islands of Giglio, Montecristo and Monte argentario off the western coast of Italy, and the islands called Iles d'Hyères off the southern coast of France.

Subspecies
None described.

Sexual differences
Males of this species are, as a contrast to other amphibian male/female comparison, larger then the females. Males have smoother skin then the females and have dark nuptial pads on the first two fingers as well as on the inside of the third finger. They also have dark patches on the throat, chest and on the toes. Females and young specimens have 1/4 average webbing of their hind feet, whereas males have up to 3/4 webbing when they are sexually matured.

Seasonal variations
The darkness of the nuptial pads described in 'sexual differences' varies in function with the breeding season, being darker during that period.

Diet
Spiders, isopods and other insects are eaten...

Defensive habits
When they feel threatened they flee and try to hide in the closest place. If they are in the water then the dive and submerge themselves into the mud of dense vegetation or under rocks.

Reproduction
The breeding season starts in early spring, lasting sometimes all year, from March until September. The excited male jumps around all over the place and waits for a female to appear near the water. Once he spots a female he jumps onto her back and holds onto her at the waist. He seems to tightly squeeze the females belly, this after 10 to 15 seconds seems to help the ejection of the eggs. The eggs then come out 20 to 50 at a time. On their way out the fall through the sperm ejected by the male just before and then land to the bottom of the water. Only around 60 % of the eggs ejected by the female are fertilized, this is due to the poor mobility of the sperm that measures 2.5 mm long!

Sexual maturity, life span
The average life span for Discoglossus sardus is about 9 years, they reach their sexual maturity in their third year.

Habits
Active by night as well as by day. Biologist Knoepffler says that their activity depends on temperature and humidity, therefore under 45% humidity with temperature under 7 * C, adults seek their burrows.

Call
A discrete small, rapid, growling-like 'laugh' resembling 'rar-rar-rar', they make this call when either under the water or at it's surface, sound (p)www.oreilleverte.com:

Habitat
They are found from sea level up to 1770 m in altitude (Valley of Tavignano, Corsica). They can live in a slightly salted marsh, this is often the case in coastal marshes. Otherwise they inhabit all sorts of water holes, streams, rivers, ponds, marshes, isolated ponds near rivers, fountains... In contrast to Discoglossus montalentii this species can tolerate changes in water quality and human development (pollution and modifying water holes such as artificial barrages...). They are also found in temporary water holes.

Predators
They are hunted by sangliers, Natrix sp. snakes, Western whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus), birds, Brook newts (Euproctus sp.), fish and aquatic insects.