Bombina orientalis

Overview

Animal Diversity Web describes a brownish-grey to green back, often spotted, and a contrasting red-orange or yellow patterned belly. Triangular pupils and pronounced dorsal tubercles distinguish the head and skin. These amphibians occur near freshwater, but the illustration selects a colour form rather than asserting uniform green coloration.

Frost and Robinson’s 1984 anatomical study investigated wild-collected adults with green dorsal skin and red to red-orange bellies. Green skin contained melanophores, iridophores and xanthophores, whereas the red areas were dominated by carotenoid-containing pigment cells. Black spots contained melanophores. This cellular evidence explains colour without turning an imagined illustration into a micrograph.

The university account describes defensive exposure of the bright underside and a diet shift across development: larvae consume material including algae and detritus, while adults eat terrestrial invertebrates. The selected adult views therefore omit tadpole anatomy and do not portray green dorsal colour as characteristic of every individual.

Origins & earliest records

A university account is paired with direct structural and chemical pigment research.

Evidence & interpretation

The primary study’s selected adult phenotype is distinguished from reported variation.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Bombina orientalis

   Todd Szcodronski · 2006

2. 02

   Pigment cell differentiation in the fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. I. Structural, chemical, and physical aspects of the adult pigment pattern

   Frost and Robinson · 1984

Family, evolution & connections

Taxonomic classification

A hierarchy of classified groups, not a chain of direct ancestors.

Source note: The university classification assigns Bombinatoridae; no divergence date is inferred.

1. FamilyBombinatoridae

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. University natural historyBombina orientalisResearch access: 2026-10-11
2. Primary research abstractPigment cell differentiation in the fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. I. Structural, chemical, and physical aspects of the adult pigment patternResearch access: 2026-10-11

Image credits

AI scientific interpretation of Bombina orientalis.

AI scientific interpretation of an imagined Bombina orientalis.