Caucasian Parsley Frog

At a glance

Key facts in one look

Human interaction: Not venomous and not a medical threat to people. Do not handle it; the skin produces mucus, as in other amphibians.

Gallery

Caucasian Parsley Frog in photos

Identification

How to identify Caucasian Parsley Frog

A small, slender tailless amphibian with a vertical pupil, weakly webbed toes and an oblique cross on the back. It is the only Pelodytes in Georgia. The usual confusions are the eastern spadefoot and brown or marsh frogs.

1. 01

   Snout–vent length at species level is about 4–5.5 cm (Georgian Encyclopaedia up to 55 mm). A Turkish series (Erişmiş et al. 2009) gives about 40–53 mm in adults; that is a Turkish sample, not a Georgian series measured on this page. The body is slender, not toad-like. Dorsal skin has regularly arranged tubercles. The back is olive or grey-brown with dark spots; red specks occur. Outside the breeding season the dorsal pattern is an oblique cross with two pale spots at its hind corners — the mark behind the Georgian name. The belly is grey or whitish. The pupil has a vertical axis. The tympanum is visible. Toe webbing is weak; the inner metatarsal tubercle is small and rounded, not a large digging spade.

2. 02

   The female is usually paler, reddish-brown above; the rear of the belly may be reddish. A 2015 Borjomi-Kharagauli photo shows a creamy-white belly with fine dark granules and a pinkish-orange tone at the groin. Breeding males darken, lose the cross pattern and develop black nuptial tubercles on the chest, arms and inner fingers. Males have internal vocal sacs. Tadpoles often overwinter and complete metamorphosis the following year. Do not handle the animal — picking it up is not needed for identification.

3. 03

   The eastern spadefoot (Pelobates syriacus) is stockier, with a large inner metatarsal spade; Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 place it in eastern Georgia, not Colchic forest. The long-legged wood frog (Rana macrocnemis) and marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus) have horizontal pupils and dorsolateral folds; the marsh frog stays closer to open water. The Caucasian toad (Bufo verrucosissimus) and green toad (Bufotes viridis) are large and warty, with horizontal pupils. The eastern tree frog (Hyla orientalis) is green, with toe pads, and climbs. Western European Pelodytes punctatus does not occur in Georgia.

4. 04

   It is not venomous. A small frog with a vertical pupil and a dorsal cross beside a cold forest stream or a shaded forest-road puddle matches this species more than a marsh frog. Do not handle it.

5. 05

   Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 treat it as biologically confirmed and endemic to the western Caucasus ecoregion — broader than Georgia’s political border. The type locality is Mount Lomis near Bakuriani. In that checklist the COI barcode is from Gombori and the figure locality is Kistauri. It is Georgia’s only Pelodytes.