Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5501 No. 1: 29 Aug. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-08-29
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5501.1.8
Page range: 171-180
Abstract views: 196
PDF downloaded: 10

A new species of colorful Platypelis (Amphibia: Microhylidae) from the Tsaratanàna and Bemanevika massifs in northern Madagascar

Mention Environnement; Université de l’Itasy; Faliarivo Ambohidanerana; 118 Soavinandriana Itasy; Madagascar; School for International Training; VN 41A Bis Ambohitsoa; 101 Antananarivo; Madagascar
Zoological Institute; Technische Universität Braunschweig; Mendelssohnstr. 4; 38106; Braunschweig; Germany
Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali; Via G. Giolitti; 36; I-10123 Torino; Italy
CIBIO; Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos; InBIO Laboratório Associado; Campus de Vairão; Universidade do Porto; 4485-661 Vairão; Portugal; Departamento de Biologia; Faculdade de Ciências; Universidade do Porto; rua do Campo Alegre s/n; 4169– 007 Porto; Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics; Biodiversity and Land Planning; CIBIO; Campus de Vairão; 4485-661 Vairão; Portugal
Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM-SNSB); Münchhausenstr; 21; 81247 München; Germany
Natural History Museum of Denmark; University of Copenhagen; Universitetsparken 15; 2100; Copenhagen Ø; Denmark
Mention Zoologie et Biodiversité Animale; Faculté des Sciences; Université d’Antananarivo; BP 906; Madagascar
Amphibia Anura Cophylinae yellow flashmarks narrow-mouthed frog

Abstract

Frogs of the genus Platypelis are known to have their center of species richness in the mountain massifs of northern Madagascar. We here formally describe a new species of Platypelis from this region. Platypelis saikamavo sp. nov. has been known for over 20 years but its taxonomic identity has only recently been robustly clarified as a result of ongoing taxonomic revisions of other Platypelis species. The new species is known from rainforest on the Tsaratanàna Massif and Bemanevika, at elevations of 1000–1530 m above sea level. It is characterized by an isolated phylogenetic position and is genetically highly divergent, with an uncorrected pairwise distance ≥4.5% in the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene to all other nominal species of Platypelis. It has a unique combination of morphological and chromatic character states such as a relatively large body size of 28–31 mm in snout–vent length, distinct superciliary tubercles, and bright yellow color around the forelimb insertion and on the posterior abdomen where this color extends in the form of flash marks onto the inguinal region.

 

References

  1. AmphibiaWeb (2024) Information on amphibian biology and conservation. AmphibiaWeb, Berkeley, California. Available from: http://amphibiaweb.org/ (accessed 25 February 2024)
  2. Andreone, F. (2004) Crossroads of herpetological diversity: survey work for an integrated conservation of amphibians and reptiles in northern Madagascar. Italian Journal of Zoology, 71, 229–235. https://doi.org/10.1080/11250000409356640
  3. Andreone, F., Fenolio, D.B. & Walvoord, M.E. (2003) Two unknown arboreal frogs (genus Platypelis) described from the rainforests of northeastern Madagascar (Microhylidae: Cophylinae). Current Herpetology, 22 (2), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.5358/hsj.22.91
  4. Andreone, F., Glaw, F., Mattioli, F., Jesu, R., Schimmenti, G., Randrianirina, J.E. & Vences, M. (2009) The peculiar herpetofauna of some Tsaratanana rainforests and its affinities with Manongarivo and other massifs and forests of northern Madagascar. Italian Journal of Zoology, 76, 92–110. https://doi.org/10.1080/11250000802088603
  5. Andreone, F., Vences, M., Vieites D.R., Glaw, F. & Meyer, A. (2005) Recurrent ecological adaptations revealed through a molecular analysis of the secretive cophyline frogs of Madagascar. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 34, 315–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.013
  6. Aprea, G., Odierna, G., Andreone, F., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2007) Karyological evolution and systematics of Malagasy microhylid frogs. Zoologischer Anzeiger, 246, 23–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2006.10.001
  7. Brown, J.L., Sillero, N., Glaw, F., Bora, P., Vieites, D.R & Vences, M. (2016) Spatial biodiversity patterns of Madagascar’s amphibians and reptiles. PLoS ONE, 11, e0144076. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144076
  8. Carver, E. (2020a) Marijuana cultivation whittling away Madagascar’s largest connected forest. Mongabay Series: Conservation in Madagascar, Forest Trackers. Available from: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/marijuana-cultivation-whittling-away-madagascars-largest-connected-forest/ (accessed 19 June 2024)
  9. Carver, E. (2020b) A Madagascar forest long protected by its remoteness is now threatened by it. Mongabay Series: Conservation in Madagascar, Forest Trackers. Available from: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/a-madagascar-forest-long-protected-by-its-remoteness-is-now-threatened-by-it/ (accessed 19 June 2024)
  10. Glaw, F., Köhler, J. & Vences, M. (2012) A tiny new species of Platypelis from the Marojejy National Park in northeastern Madagascar (Amphibia: Microhylidae). European Journal of Taxonomy, 9, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2012.9
  11. Glaw, F., Scherz, M.D., Rakotoarison, A., Crottini, A., Raselimanana, A.P., Andreone, F., Köhler, J. & Vences, M. (2020) Genetic variability and partial integrative revision of Platypelis frogs (Microhylidae) with red flash marks from eastern Madagascar. Vertebrate Zoology, 70, 141–156.
  12. Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2007) A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. 3rd Edition. Vences & Glaw Verlags GbR, Cologne, 496 pp.
  13. Goodman, S.M., Raherilalao, M.J. & Wohlhauser, S. (Eds.) (2018) Les aires protégées terrestres de Madagascar: Leur histoire, description et biote/The terrestrial protected areas of Madagascar: Their history, description, and biota. Association Vahatra, Antananarivo, 1716 pp.
  14. Hawlitschek, O., Nagy, Z.T. & Glaw, F. (2012) Island evolution and systematic revision of Comoran snakes: why and when subspecies still make sense. PLoS ONE, 7 (8), e42970, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042970
  15. IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (2016) Gephyromantis zavona. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2016, e.T57534A67381708. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T57534A67381708.en
  16. IUCN Standards and Petitions Committee (2024) Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 16. Prepared by the Standards and Petitions Committee. Available from: https://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/RedListGuidelines.pdf (accessed 8 July 2024)
  17. Kumar, S., Stecher, G. & Tamura, K. (2016) MEGA7: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33, 1870–1874. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw054
  18. Miralles, A. & Vences, M. (2013) New metrics for comparison of taxonomies reveal striking discrepancies among species delimitation methods in Madascincus lizards. PLoS ONE, 8, e68242. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068242
  19. Moat, J. & Smith, P. (2007) Atlas of the Vegetation of Madagascar. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 124 pp.
  20. Padial, J.M., Miralles, A., de la Riva, I. & Vences, M. (2010) The integrative future of taxonomy. Frontiers in Zoology, 7, 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-9994-7-16
  21. Perl, R.G.B., Nagy, Z.T., Sonet, G., Glaw, F., Wollenberg, K.C. & Vences, M. (2014) DNA barcoding Madagascar’s amphibian fauna. Amphibia-Reptilia, 35, 197–206. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-00002942
  22. Piccoli, C., Crottini, A.,Tota, R. & Andreone, F. (2023) The Madagascar’s amphibian collection in the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali in Turin: a legacy of the past and more than three decades of fieldwork. In: Andreone, F., Delfino, M., Favelli, M., Sassoé, M. & Tessa, G. (Eds.), Atti del XIV Congresso Nazionale della Societas Herpetologica Italica (Torino, 13–17 September 2022). Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, pp. 95–120.
  23. Rakotoarison, A., Crottini, A., Müller, J., Rödel, M.-O., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2015) Revision and phylogeny of narrow-mouthed treefrogs (Cophyla) from northern Madagascar: integration of molecular, osteological, and bioacoustic data reveals three new species, Zootaxa, 3937 (1), 61–89. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3937.1.3
  24. Rakotoarison, A., Glaw, F., Vieites, D.R., Raminosoa N.R. & Vences, M. (2012) Taxonomy and natural history of arboreal microhylid frogs (Platypelis) from the Tsaratanana Massif in northern Madagascar, with description of a new species. Zootaxa, 3563 (1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa3563.1.1
  25. Rakotoarison, A., Scherz, M.D., Bletz, M.C., Razafindraibe, J.H., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2019) Description of the lucky Cophyla (Microhylidae, Cophylinae), a new arboreal frog from Marojejy National Park in north-eastern Madagascar. Zootaxa, 4651 (2), 271–288. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4651.2.4
  26. Rakotoarison, A., Scherz, M.D., Glaw, F., Köhler, J., Andreone, F., Franzen, M., Glos, J., Hawlitschek, O., Jono, T., Mori, A., Ndriantsoa, S.H., Rasoamampionona Raminosoa, N., Riemann, J.C., Rödel, M.O., Rosa, G.M., Vieites, D.R., Crottini, A. & Vences, M. (2017) Describing the smaller majority: integrative taxonomy reveals twenty-six new species of tiny microhylid frogs (genus Stumpffia) from Madagascar. Vertebrate Zoology, 67, 271–398. https://doi.org/10.3897/vz.67.e31595
  27. Rakotoarison, A., Scherz, M.D., Köhler, J., Ratsoavina, F.M., Hawlitschek, O., Megson, S., Vences, M. & Glaw, F. (2020) Frogs of the genus Platypelis from the Sorata massif in northern Madagascar: description of a new species and reports of range extensions. Zoosystematics and Evolution, 96, 263–274. https://doi.org/10.3897/zse.96.47088
  28. Rakotoarison, A., Scherz, M.D., Mullin, K.E., Crottini, A., Petzold, A., Ranjanaharisoa, F.A., Maheritafika, H.M.R., Rafanoharana, J.M., Raherinjatovo, H., Andreone, F., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2023) Gray versus yellow ventral coloration: Identity, distribution, color polymorphism and molecular relationships of the microhylid frog Platypelis mavomavo Andreone, Fenolio & Walvoord, 2003. Zootaxa, 2352 (2), 221–234. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5352.2.4
  29. Scherz, M.D., Vences, M., Rakotoarison, A., Andreone, F., Köhler, J., Glaw, F. & Crottini, A. (2016) Reconciling molecular phylogeny, morphological divergence and classification of Madagascan narrow-mouthed frogs (Amphibia: Microhylidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 100, 372–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.04.019
  30. Vieites, D.R., Wollenberg, K.C., Andreone, F., Köhler, J., Glaw, F. & Vences, M. (2009) Vast underestimation of Madagascar’s biodiversity evidenced by an integrative amphibian inventory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A, 106, 8267–8272. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0810821106
  31. Wollenberg, K.C., Vieites, D.R., van der Meijden, A., Glaw, F., Cannatella, D.C. & Vences, M. (2008) Patterns of endemism and species richness in Malagasy cophyline frogs support a key role of mountainous areas for speciation. Evolution, 62, 1890–1907. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00420.x