Jun 15
Bombina bombina is easily the most distinctive of the members of the Northern European herpetofauna. Like other members of the genus Bombina, it advertises its toxins with these bright ventral (underside) markings, which it displays in a yoga pose called the Unken Reflex (Unke is the German word for these frogs, which in English we often call fire-bellied toads, although they have nothing to do with true toads in the family Bufonidae, having their own family instead, Bombinatoridae). They are quite threatened in Denmark, and we are at the far western edge of their range, but they are doing fine through most of the rest of it, which extends well into Asia.
