engleski

Geographical distribution of three species of Malagasy poison frogs of high conservation priority: Mantella aurantiaca, M. crocea and M. milotympanum

The genus Mantella comprises 16 described species of Malagasy poison frogs, several of which are threatened. Despite their importance as flagship species for conservation, remarkably little was known until recently about their geographical distribution. We here provide a revision of the distribution of a complex of three closely related Mantella species from central eastern Madagascar: Mantella aurantiaca (Critically Endangered) M. crocea (Endangered) and M. milotympanum (Critically Endangered). These taxa were thus far known from only a very limited number of sites. Based on own surveys, we could identify 21 new sites to complement the 13 sites known for these frogs. We also provide corrected geographical coordinates for some published sites. Altogether 16 localities are known for M. aurantiaca, nine for M. crocea, five for M. cf milotympanum and four for M. milotympanum. One site of M. crocea is in a Special Reserve (Ambohitantely), a second possibly in the Zahamena National Park, one site of M. aurantiaca (Torotorofotsy) is protected as Ramsar site, and a second site of M. aurantiaca is at the boundary of, and possibly inside, Mantadia National Park, but all other localities do not receive legal protection. All newly recorded sites are along the western edge of the eastern forest band, except Ambohitantely which is a relict forest in central Madagascar. Among the sites reported for M. aurantiaca, only one (Ambakoana) is situated on the western bank of the Mangoro River, indicating that this river is no insurmountable barrier for this species, at least in its upper course.

Mantella; Anura; Mantellidae; geographical distribution; Madagascar

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