It is found in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (although, in the latter, only as an introduction).

Like other members of its genus (Alytes), the male toad carries the eggs around entwined on his back and thighs until they are ready to hatch.

The common midwife toad can grow to a length of 5.5 centimetres (2.2 in) but is usually rather smaller than this, the females generally being larger than the males.

These include hilly areas, cultivated land, quarries, rocky slopes, gravel pits, woods, parks and gardens.

It is active at dusk and through the night, spending the day hidden in undergrowth, in crevices or under logs or stones in a place where it can keep damp.

After about half an hour he squeezes her sides firmly, whereby she stretches her hind legs and ejects a mass of eggs embedded in strings of jelly.

A little later, he begins to pull and pummel the egg mass, teasing it out so that he can wrap the strings around his back legs.

When the eggs are about to hatch, he detaches them in a calm stretch of water like a ditch, village pond, spring or drinking trough.

There is evidence that suggests that this may include temporary water bodies, such as those found within flowerpot saucers in urban gardens.

[11] The eggs hatch into tadpoles, which feed and grow over the course of several months, develop limbs, lose their tails and eventually undergo metamorphosis into juvenile toads.