Fertility of females of the Caucasian toad, Bufo verrucosissimus (Pallas, 1814) in artificial condition

Data on reproductive characteristics of females of the Caucasian toad, Bufo verrucosissimus in the laboratory are given. We studied the progeny from 10 females of all three allocated for the Northwestern Caucasus subspecies, including four offspring from the Colchis toads, B. verrucosissimus verrucosissimus; two from the Circassian toads, B. verrucosissimus circassicus; and four from the Turov’s toad, B. verrucosissimus turowi. The total length of the egg cord of the Colchis toad was 606-1217 cm, and the number of eggs - from 307 to 2653 pcs. For the Circassian toads, these characteristics were 573-618 cm and 1082-1115 pcs respectively, and for the Turov’s toad - 1369-7139 cm and 741-1495 pcs. In every meter of egg laying was from 50.7 to 657.4 eggs. This makes unsuitable for determining fertility in this species the reference method. It is noted that the fertility of the Caucasian toad, on average, less than that of the Talysh toad, B. eichwaldi and similar to the European common toad, B. bufo.