Discoglossus pictus Otth 1837, is an anuran species of the central Mediterranean region, with two geographically isolated forms, one occurring in Sicily and Malta (D. pictus pictus) and another in the eastern Maghreb, from the northeast of Morocco to Tunisia (D. pictus auritus) (Zangari, Cimmaruta and Nascetti, 2006). An alien population of D. pictus auritus also occurs in northeast Spain and southern France (Lanza et al., 1986; Escoriza and Boix, 2012), possibly introduced from Algeria (Martínez-Solano, 2004). Several species of frogs show great polymorphism regarding their coloration (Hoffman and Blouin, 2000) and D. pictus is a particularly variable species, showing three color patterns: striped, spotted and uniform (Lanza et al., 2007). In the literature, albinism is documented in many species of anurans (Smallcombe, 1949; Browder, 1972; Hoperskaya, 1975; Sanabria, Quiroga and Laspiur, 2010; Toledo, Rodrigues da Silva and Araujo, 2011), although it is very rare in D. pictus, and has only been described in two cases, in a tadpole and in a subadult specimen (Boulenger, 1897; Spadola and Insacco, 2010). In April 2012 an albino tadpole of D. pictus (lateral view: Fig. 1, dorsal view: Fig. 2) was found near Belsito (Palermo, northwestern Sicily) at 767 m above sea level, in a temporary pond with many tadpoles of D. pictus bearing a normal phenotype. This specimen lacked pigment in the eye, as can be appreciated in Fig. 1, therefore being a case of full albinism. Albinism or partial albinism is a recessive genetic trait in amphibians (Smith-Gill, Richards and Nace, 1972; Frost-Mason and Mason, 1996), although in some cases it could be favored by environmental distress (Vershinin, 2004), as for example, by parasite infections, and might be associated with other morphological malformations (Johnson et al., 2002). Albinism or partial albinism may affect adversely individual survival (Møller and Mousseau, 2001; Krécsak, 2008), although in laboratory conditions albinism has not been linked to alterations in the development or growth of tadpoles (Corn, 1986). But an increase in the rate of predation suffered by albino tadpoles (Childs, 1953) can justify the rarity of the persistence of this phenotype in the wild. Acknowledgements. Thanks to Iñigo Martínez-Solano for his valuable comments on an early version of this article. References Boulenger, G.A. (1897): The Tailless Batrachians of Europe. Part I. Ray Society, London, 264 pp. Browder, L.W. (1972): Genetic and embryological studies of al- binism in Rana pipiens. Journal of Experimental Zoology 180: 149–155. Childs, H.E. (1953): Selection by predation on albino and normal spadefoot toads. Evolution 7(3): 228-233. Corn, P.S. (1986): Genetic and developmental studies of albino chorus frogs. Journal of Heredity 77: 164–168. Escoriza, D., Boix, D. (2012): Assessing the potential impact of an invasive species in a Mediterranean amphibian assembla- ge: a morphological and ecological approach. Hydrobiologia 680(1): 233-245. Frost-Mason, S.K., Mason, K.A. (1996): What insights into ver- tebrate pigmentation has the axolotl model system provided?. International Journal of Developmental Biology 40: 685-693. Hoffman, E.A., Blouin, M.S. (2000): A review of colour and pattern polymorphisms in anurans. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 70: 633–665. Hoperskaya, O.A. (1975): The development of animals homo- zygous for a mutation causing periodic albinism in Xenopus laevis. Journal of Embriology and Experimental Morphology 34: 253-264. Johnson, P.T.J., Lunde, J.K.B., Thurman, E.M., Ritchie, E.G., Wray, S.N., Sutherland, D.R., Kapfer, J.M., Frest, T.J., Bower- man, J., Blaustein, A.R. (2002): Parasite (Ribeiroia ondatrae) infection linked to amphibian malformations in the western United States. Ecological Monographs. 72:151–168. Krecsák, L. (2008): Albinism and leucism among European Vi- perinae: a review. Russian Journal of Herpetology 15(2): 97- 102. Lanza, B., Nascetti, G., Capula, M., Bullini, L. (1986): Les discoglosses de la région méditerranée occidentale (Amphibia;Anura; Discoglossidae). Bulletin Société Herpéto- logique de France 40(4): 16-27. Herpetology Notes, volume 5: 311-312 (2012) (published online on 22 August 2012) Description of a case of albinism in a tadpole of Discoglossus pictus pictus (Anura: Discoglossidae) in Sicily Daniel Escoriza Institute of Aquatic Ecology and Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, 17071 Girona, Spain. E-mail: daniel_escoriza@hotmail.com