The Four Musketeers

The Oriental Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis) is a small (4cm, 2in) semiaquatic "Frog" species found in Korea, north-eastern China, and adjacent parts of Russia.  An introduced population exists near Beijing.  They are commonly kept as pets in land and water vivaria. B. orientalis is also known as the "tuti toad".  It may properly be referred to as a frog, despite its common name, because of the tubercles on its back. 

Oriental Fire-bellied Toad
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Bombinatoridae
Genus:	Bombina
Species:	B. orientalis
Binomial name
Bombina orientalis
(Boulenger 1890)

Oriental fire-bellied toads, species of Bombina, are typically a bright green with black mottling on their dorsal regions, but their complexion may also darken to brown and even black depending on their background scenery.  The skin on its dorsal side is covered in small tubercles, and although it is typically referred to as a toad, the fire-bellied toad is not a true toad - family Bufonidae.  Like other Bombina species, B. orientalis has a bright yellow to red (generally bright reddish-orange) ventral region mottled with dark brown to black.  In the wild, B. orientalis eats various small aquatic arthropods (among other things) from which they obtain beta-carotene, which aids in the colouration in the ventral region.  These bright colours serve as a

Tadpoles

warning to predators of toxicity.  The toxin is secreted through the skin mostly from the hind legs, and sometimes the belly, in a milky-like substance when the frog is disturbed or frightened.  Not only will this frog emit this toxin, it will also lie on its back to show the colour of its belly, indicating its toxicity to any predators.  Like other Bombina species, B. orientalis is semiaquatic, inhabiting warm, rice paddies and mountain streams in humid, forested regions.  It spends most of its time on land.  Breeding takes place in the spring with the warming of the weather and increase in rain.  Males call to the females with a light barking croak.  They jump onto the back of any other fire-bellied toad that happens to pass by, often leading to male-male confusion, but rarely any sort of fighting. Females lay 40 to 100 eggs in a large cluster, usually around submerged plants, near the water's edge.  Tadpoles hatch from the eggs in three to 10 days depending on the temperature of the water.  The tadpoles begin to develop legs in 6 to 8 weeks, and are fully metamorphosed and begin venturing on land in 12 to 14 weeks.  Lifespan is between 10 and 20 and occasionally even up to 30 years.