Iberian Green Frog (Pelophylax perezi) lives in freshwater habitats across Iberian Peninsula. It feeds on insects and crustaceans. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Hear the Iberian Green Frog
A real field recording of the Iberian Green Frog, made in the wild.
A single adult female collected in A Coruña now sits in Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology as specimen MCZ 6832, the lectotype that finally anchored the name Pelophylax perezi in 1995. Before that, the frog bounced between names like Rana esculenta perezi and Rana ridibunda perezi, reflecting early doubts about its identity. Securing a concrete reference specimen stopped the taxonomic shuffle, confirming it as a distinct species rather than a subspecies.
Genetic studies show Pelophylax perezi split from its closest cousin, the Sahara frog (P. saharicus), either 16 million years ago during the Burdigalian or 5.3 million years ago in the Zanclean. Both dates line up with massive sea-level changes, the Betic Crisis and the Messinian salinity crisis, that reshaped the Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean basin. Those ancient floods likely isolated frog populations, driving the evolution of two lineages that now thrive on opposite sides of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Since its first description in 1885, Pelophylax perezi has spread far beyond its native Iberian range. It now lives in southern France, the Canary and Balearic Islands, Madeira, the United Kingdom, and the Azores, thriving in everything from temperate forests to urban parks and sandy shores. This adaptability means the species is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, showing how a frog can flourish in both wild wetlands and human-altered landscapes without immediate threat.
Pelophylax perezi belongs to the genus Pelophylax, a group spread across Eurasia. Molecular work revealed it is genetically closer to European Pelophylax species than to any East Asian relatives, underscoring a western evolutionary hub. Yet its nearest living relative is the North-African Sahara frog, highlighting a surprising biogeographic link across the Mediterranean.
The frog's habitat list reads like a checklist of water-related environments: rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent lakes, marshes, intermittent marshes, and even arable land and cities.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
In the sun-drenched wetlands of the Iberian Peninsula, the Iberian Green Frog emerges as a vibrant and resilient inhabitant, its emerald skin glistening like polished jade as it navigates the dense vegetation with an air of quiet confidence. With a nimble leap, it propels itself through the water's edge, its webbed feet barely rippling the surface as it pursues its insect prey with stealthy precision. As it sings its melodious song, a chorus of deep, throaty croaks, the Iberian Green Frog weaves a sonic tapestry that reverberates through the landscape, a testament to its enduring presence in this Mediterranean world.
Advertisement
Hear the Iberian Green Frog, and 4,400+ more
Real recorded sounds, 11 nature games and a free Daily 5, 1v1 quiz duels, conservation wins and a safe Kids mode. Free on Feravox.
