Thursday, 16 February 2012
A to Z of Amphibians and Reptiles in Britain
Title |
Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Adder |
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An often thick-bodied viper with a flat snout, nearly always several large scales on the top of the head. Most adders have a clearly marked dark, zig-zag vertebral stripe. In rare cares the stipe... |
| Common Frog |
 |
The adults are similar but the female is larger with white granulations on the flanks giving the skin a coarser texture. The basic colour of the common frog can vary greatly. Many different colour... |
| Common Lizard |
 |
Adults have a rather slender body with an angular pointed snout. The basic colour varies but brownish hues are usual. Viewed from above a vertebral row of dark spots and patches are visible and... |
| Common Toad |
 |
Common toads are tail-less amphibians that have warty skin with distinct elongated bulges behind their eyes, called parotoid glands. Common toads tend to walk rather than jump. |
| Grass Snake |
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Usually olive green with darker blotches and a yellow collar with a black border. |
| Great Crested Newt |
 |
The Great Crested Newt is Britains largest newt and also it's most threatened. They appear almost black to the naked eye but in fact have grey/brown colouration covered in dark spots. |
| Marsh Frog |
 |
Adults up to 15cm rarely up to 18. the largest native European frog, big, robust and sometimes rather warty. Vocal sacs grey and back of thigh spotted whiteish grey (only rarely yellowish). |
| Natterjack Toad |
 |
It can be distinguished from other species of toads by the bright yellow line running the length of it's back. It is also smaller than the common toad and is olive green in colour with green/gold... |
| Palmate Newt |
 |
The female has olive green or light brown skin with darker green speckles joining to form two lines on each side of it's spine. The male also has olive green skin covered in spots. |
| Pool Frog (Southern Clade in photograph) |
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This frog became extinct in Britain in the late 1990s and has recently been reintroduced from Sweden. Pool frogs are variable in colour from green to brown but in the U.K. are predominately brown... |
| Sand Lizard |
 |
Sand Lizards are stocky and short -legged and have small, blunt heads and snouts with short tails. The female is a grey to dark grey colour, has a cream white belly and a pattern of dark brown... |
| Slow Worm |
 |
The Slow Worm is actually a legless lizard, which is often mistaken for a snake. There are features present that seperate the Slow Worm from the snake family, including the presence of an eyelid,... |
| Smooth Newt |
 |
Females and non-breeding males are pale brown or olive green, sometimes with two darker stripes down the back. Both sexes have an orange belly but the females is paler and their bellies are... |
| Smooth Snake |
 |
The Smooth Snake is a slender snake covered in smooth flat scales and vary in colour from grey, brown to reddish-brown with a pattern of dark spots running down the back. They also have a dark... |