GENETIC AND MORPHOLOGICAL-DIFFERENTIATION AMONG POPULATIONS OF THE GREEN TOAD BUFO-VIRIDIS FROM NORTHERN GREECE

Studies of external morphology and allozymes in five populations of th e green toad Bufo viridis, from northern Greece revealed a high degree of genetic variation. Average heterozygosity of the five populations was 0.14 and 47% of the loci were polymorphic. Discriminant analysis o f morphological characters indicated that one population was significa ntly different from the rest. No correlation was found between the gen etic distance and the Mahalanobis Distance, as calculated from morphol ogical characters. These populations of B. viridis seem to have a simi lar genetic structure to the frogs Hyla arborea and Rana ridibunda, wh ich also occur in the same area.