Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 84, December 2008, pp. 1-18. | Page 9

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include stagnant temporary water bodies; river or lakeside temporary waterbodies and
large permanent pools. It can occur in slightly modified areas, including intensively
grazed areas. During the reproductive period, the male shoulder gland becomes more
prominent. The clutch contains about 5500-6500 eggs and is similar in shape to the clutch
of P. fuscus. Metamorphosis is completed in summer or in autumn. Many toadlets bury
themselves on the pond shores. In some water bodies’ tadpoles overwinter and complete
metamorphosis the following year. Tadpoles consume mainly algae and plant debris.
Adults forage on land surface dwellers, including Mollusca, Myriapoda, Aranae,
Orthoptera etc.
In Palestine, it lives in Al-Quds/Jerusalem, Beer Salem, Haifa, Al-Jaleel/Galilee and
Isdud/Ashdod.
Family Discoglossidae:
8. Palestine or Hula painted frog (Discoglossus nigriventer, Mendelssohn and
Steinitz 1943):
The Palestinian painted frog, Israel painted frog or Hula Painted Frog (Discoglossus
nigriventer, Mendelssohn and Steinitz 1943) is an extinct amphibian, whose range was
limited to the Lake Hula (Huleh) marshes and swamps in northern Palestine, just north of
the Sea of Galilee (Tabaria/Tiberius Lake), and possible in adjacent parts of Syria and
Lebanon. Due to drainage of the marshes by Israel in the 1950’s, this rare species
disappeared. It was classified as extinct in 1996, but continues to be listed as an
endangered species in Palestine on the slim hope that a relict population may be found in
the Golan Heights. Almost nothing is known about its life history, because it was only
found by scientists from two localities on the eastern shores of the Hula wetlands (Lake
Hula): once, four specimens were collected in 1940 by the zoologist Prof. Heinrich
Mendelssohn, of which one still exists (type specimen); and a single adult specimen was
collected by the biologist Dr. Heinz Steinitz in 1955. This was the last record of this
species. The two tadpole paratypes have been lost . (Khalaf-von Jaffa, February 2007).
The wetlands where the Palestinian painted frog relied on were drained for mainly
agricultural purposes in the 1950’s like making the land suitable for agriculture, but also
in an attempt to eradicate malaria. Of the original 60 km² of wetlands, only an area of
3.20 km² has remained; although this remaining area was set aside as a nature reserve in
1964, this could not prevent the extinction of certain endemic species, including the
Palestinian Painted Frog. This species has not been reported since 1955, when Dr. Heinz
Steinitz collected it. (Khalaf-von Jaffa, February 2007).
Very little is known about this two-inch-long (5 cm) frog that was last recorded in 1955.
Its back was a colourful combination of ochre (yellow-brown), rust, gray, and black.
Small white spots dappled its dark belly. It lived in northern Palestine and possibly
adjacent parts of Syria and Lebanon. Herpetologists believe that it went extinct &V6W6P