Token Caucasian cross MMD

White Crane coin token. Caucasian cross

Series "5 chervonets. The Red Book of the USSR. MMD"

Artist: Ivanov MA
Sculptor: Parfenov A.I.

CAUCASIAN CROSS (Pelodytes caucasicus) - inhabits moist broad-leaved mountain forests with dense undergrowth, where the annual moisture level varies between 400-600 (north-western Caucasus.) And 3200 mm (Caucasian State Reserve and Kolkhi lowland). It occurs in shaded ponds and streams with cold, clean, standing or semi-flowing water, or on their banks. Occasionally found away from water. Winters in the forest floor. Breeding from May to mid-October. In laying 79-750 eggs. Fetal and larval development 75-80 days; late-hatched tadpoles winter and metamorphize for the next year. Sexual maturity comes at least 2 years old.
Body length 33.6-60 mm. On top of the olive with dark greenish spots, or gray-brown with dark spots. Sometimes there are red dots on the back. Outside of the marriage period on the back there is a pattern in the form of an oblique cross with 2 spots at its hind ends. The belly is gray. The skin on the back with rows of tubercles. In the mating period, males form mating corns in the form of black bumps on the forelegs, chest, sides and lower jaw border; cross-shaped pattern on the back disappears. There are geographical differences in external morphology.
Despite the locally high density of populations, the total number is low due to the narrowness of the range and the limitedness of suitable habitats.