AmphibiaWeb - Spinomantis massi
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(Translations may not be accurate.)

Spinomantis massi (Glaw & Vences, 1994)
family: Mantellidae
subfamily: Mantellinae
genus: Spinomantis

© 2008 Miguel Vences and Frank Glaw (1 of 1)

  hear call (135.0K MP3 file)

  hear Fonozoo call

[call details here]

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

   

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Description
Resembling M. aglavei and M. fimbriatus, but smaller and nearly without dermal flaps and fringes. Females unknown. Other characters see next section.

Holotype: Adult male, ZFMK 57442, from Benavony (near Ambanja, NW-Madagascar). SVL 37 mm, head width 14 mm; eye diameter 4.5 mm, horizontal diameter of tympanum 1.8 mm; distance eye-nostril 4.1 mm, distance nostril-tip of snout 3.2 mm; hand length 11 mm, length of foot and tarsus 26 mm. Tibiotarsal articulation reaches between eye and nostril. Tips of fingers and toes distinctly enlarged. The tibia is clearly longer than the foot. The lateral metatarsalia are separated. Inner and outer metatarsal tubercle are present. Large semicircular femoral glands are present (9x3 mm, distance between each other 3 mm). Vomerine teeth are present.
Hand without web; webbing of the foot 1(0.5), 2i(1), 2e(0.25), 3i(1.25), 3e(0.25), 4i/e(1.5), 5(1). Skin on the back granular. Tubercles are present on the back, on the head, and on the eyes. On the posterior edge of foot and tarsus 8-9 small tubercles can be recognized. Slightly distinct tubercles on the heels. Only slight longitudinal furrows between the eyes.
Colour in life light brown on the back, with rather irregular brown spots and larger markings, and some greenish colour. Hindlegs with dark brown crossbands. Some white patches are present on the flanks. Underside uniformly whitish except the femurs which are marbled with brown. The bones are light green.

Paratype: Adult male, ZFMK 57443, from same locality as holotype. SVL is 33.5 mm. Morphological features very similar to the holotype. The general colour in life of the back and legs was mossy green; in preservative this colour has disappeared. Two distinct tubercles are present on each heel. The femoral glands measure 10x3.5 mm.

Similar species: The dermal flaps are much less developed than in M. aglavei and M. fimbriatus, whereas such flaps are not recognizable in M. peraccae.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Madagascar

 

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.
Benavony, Manongarivo, Tsaratanana (Antsahamanara campsite). It occurs between 200-1,100m asl in streams near primary forest but not secondary habitats (Raxworthy and Glaw 2008).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Habits: Calling males were found in March along a brook in primary forest about 2 m above the ground. Calling activity had a peak at dusk, starting before 17 h and was nearly finished at 19.30 h.

Calls: A single pulsed note, consisting of a minimum of two pulses, but sometimes with more pulses, loud but not very conspicuous, and less “metallic” in appearance than in other species of the group.

Breeding takes place in streams (Raxworthy and Glaw 2008).

Trends and Threats
It might occur in the Réserve Spéciale de Manongarivo and Réserve Naturelle Intégrale du Tsaratanana (Raxworthy and Glaw 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
Predators (natural or introduced)

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.

Raxworthy, C. and Glaw, F. (2008). Spinomantis massi. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 29 April 2009.



Originally submitted by: Miguel Vences and Frank Glaw (first posted 2000-11-30)
Edited by: Henry Zhu (2009-05-06)

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2009 Spinomantis massi <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/4614> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Mar 28, 2024.



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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 28 Mar 2024.

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