DICE student and alumni involved in discovery of a new frog species from Madagascar

Early last year a small team of researchers, which included current DICE PhD student Lawrence Ball and DICE alumni Jeanneney Rabearivony and Duncan Parker, embarked on a five-week research trip to a remote area of northern Madagascar. The expedition, led by Dr James Borrell (Kew), and funded by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Royal Geographical Society (RGS), Cadogan Tate and The Scientific Exploration Society (SES), sought to quantify the impact of ‘edge effects’ on reptile and amphibian populations in mid-altitude rainforest.

Madagascar’s forest cover has declined drastically in the last century and 70% of the remaining forest is within 1 km of the forest edge. Thus, understanding how forest edges impact forest species is of a high priority and the sensitivity of reptiles and amphibians to environmental conditions make them ideal indicator species. Preliminary results indicate that ‘edge effects’ impact reptile and amphibian populations just 30-40m into the forest, less than previously thought.

Due to their remoteness, the team were also interested in inventorying the species they found. “Almost all of Madagascar’s over 700 amphibian and reptile species are found nowhere else in the world. And almost all of them are threatened by habitat decline,” said Mark D. Scherz (Zoologische Staatssammlung München (ZSM)), reptile and amphibian researcher on the team. “Many species that don’t even have names yet are already on the verge of extinction.”

Morphological, genetic and bioacoustic analysis has revealed a new frog species, Gephyromantis angano. This camouflaged little frog, which measures less than three centimetres in length, differs from similar species by a unique, loud, clinking advertisement call. The paper, entitled A new frog species of the subgenus Asperomantis (Anura, Mantellidae, Gephyromantis) from the Bealanana District of northern Madagascar, has been published in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

The results also contributed to the description of a new chameleon species Calumma gehringi. This paper, entitled Splitting and lumping: An integrative taxonomic assessment of Malagasy chameleons in the Calumma guibei complex results in the new species C. gehringi sp. nov., has been published in Vertebrate Zoology.

In addition to the scientific objectives, two Malagasy students accompanied the team to complete their Masters’ Degree dissertations and Duncan Parker (Falcon Productions) produced a conservation film entitled Madagascar: Life on the Edge, which can be watched for free here.

Leave a Reply