AmphibiaWeb - Boophis luteus
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(Translations may not be accurate.)

Boophis luteus (Boulenger, 1882)

Subgenus: Boophis
family: Mantellidae
subfamily: Boophinae
genus: Boophis

© 2016 Joshua S. Ralph (1 of 11)

  hear call (191.8K MP3 file)

  hear Fonozoo call (#1)
  hear Fonozoo call (#2)

[call details here]

Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN Red List Status Account Least Concern (LC)
CITES No CITES Listing
National Status None
Regional Status None
Access Conservation Needs Assessment Report .

   

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
View Bd and Bsal data (4 records).

Description
A green, medium-sized treefrog with snout vent length 35-60 mm; males 35-40 mm, one female 51 mm. Venter is bluish to greenish. Skin on the back is smooth. White lateral fringes are along lower arm and tarsus. Iris with a red ring on the outer iris area. Nostrils are slightly nearer to eye than to tip of snout. Tympanum/eye ratio is about 1/2. Tibiotarsal articulation reaches tip of snout or beyond. Webbing of the hand: a trace of web between finger 1 and 2, 2e(1), 3i(2), 3e(1), 4(1); webbing of the foot 1(0), 2i(1), 2e(0), 3i(1), 3e(0), 4i/e(1), 5(0). Males are with white nuptial pads and a bluish, paired subgular vocal sac.

Tadpoles live in flowing water and are brownish or blackish-green in late metamorphic stages, with brown or black spots on the caudal musculature. The belly is transparent in early stages becoming silvery in later stages. Total length in stage 25: 14-28 mm; in stages 35-38: 50-65 mm. The mouth is small and directed ventrally. Eyes are large and directed laterally. At midlength of the tail, the caudal musculature represents about 2/5-1/2 of the total tail height. Tooth formula is 1/5+5//3 or 1/4+4//3.

Metamorphosing juveniles measure 18-25 mm from snout to vent. Their colour is green with a red spot between the eyes and two lateral yellow lines from the tip of the snout, over the eye, to the insertion of the hindlimbs. A second tadpole type with a tooth formula of 1/2+2//3 or 1/3+3//3 was also assigned to this species. At Tolagnaro only the first form occured.

Similar species: Boophis elenae, B. englaenderi and B. l. septentrionalis have no red ring around the iris. Other species of the luteus and rappiodes-group are smaller.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Madagascar

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
View Bd and Bsal data (4 records).
Ambatolahy forest, Ambohitantely, Andasibe, Andohahela, Itremo, Isalo, Mandraka, Midongy, Nahampoana, Pic St. Louis, Ranomafana (Andranaroa river), Vevembe. It occurs between 300-1,100m asl. This species lives in pristine and degraded rainforest, in secondary vegetation where trees survive, and along streams, where it breeds (Nussbaum et al. 2008).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Males call during the evening and night from shrubs, trees and rocks along brooks in, and outside of, dense forest; also during dry nights. Couples in axillary amplexus have been found in January and March.

Call: The call is a melodious sound that can last for several minutes. It consists of whistling notes [duration 75 ms (Tolagnaro; 25 °C) to 100 ms (Andasibe;18 °C)] repeated after short intervals of 40 (25 °C) to 90 ms (18 °C). Note repetition rate at the two temperatures is 9.3/s and 5.5/s. When beginning to call, males first emit single notes with longer intervals between them; after some time they start calling as described above. Frequency ranges from 3 to 3.5 kHz (Tolagnaro) and 2.7-3.2 (Andasibe). Between the south (Tolagnaro) and centre (Andasibe) only minor call differences were found. Another call description is generally in accordance with these parameters. When clasped, males emit single whistling tones.

Eggs: One female deposited about 200 black, very sticky eggs, with a diameter of 2 mm. At Tolagnaro a clutch that very probably belongs to this species was fixed on a vertical stone where fast-running shallow water cascaded down a large rock. Egg diameter, including the strong jelly, was 3 mm. After separating from the stone, about 120 tadpoles (8 mm total length) hatched. A couple from Mandraka (female 51 mm snout vent length) produced a clutch of 190 eggs in January; egg diameter was 2.5 mm, including the jelly 4 mm.

Trends and Threats
Least Concern: wide distribution and tolerance of habitat modification. It occurs in many protected areas (Nussbaum et al. 2008).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Habitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activities
Intensified agriculture or grazing
Urbanization
Habitat fragmentation

Comments
Taken with permission from Glaw and Vences (2007).

References

Glaw, F., and Vences, M. (2007). Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. Third Edition. Vences and Glaw Verlag, Köln.

Nussbaum, R., Glaw, F., and Andreone, F. (2008). Boophis luteus. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 08 April 2009.



Originally submitted by: Miguel Vences and Frank Glaw (first posted 2002-04-26)
Edited by: Henry Zhu (2009-05-05)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2009 Boophis luteus <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/4347> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Mar 29, 2024.



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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 29 Mar 2024.

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