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Remarkable records of amphibians and reptiles on Madagascar’s central high plateau

2007; Firenze University Press; Volume: 20; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1970-9528

Franco Andreone, Frank Glaw, J. E. Randrianirina, Miguel Vences,

Animal Behavior and Reproduction

We present data on the herpetofauna from the high plateau of Madagascar, based upon recent survey work and analysis of the literature. We visited several sites during a field survey of the critically endangered harlequin mantella, Mantella cowani Boulenger 1882, in the Antoetra and Antratrabe regions. The habitats of the high lands are currently quite altered and only a few spots present a certain degree of forest coverage. At these sites, we discovered several taxa that were little known thus far, not yet recorded for central Madagascar, or possibly still undescribed. M. cowani was found at four sites, although with differences in abundance. Other remarkable species are the frogs Boophis ankaratra Andreone 1993, B. elenae Andreone 1993, and B. rhodoscelis Boulenger 1882, as well as the possibly new species Boophis sp. 2 (aff. boehmei Glaw & Vences 1992), B. sp. 1 (aff. ankaratra), and Gephyromantis sp. (cf. plicifer Boulenger 1882). A further search for M. cowani was also done in the Ambatodadama area (near Antsirabe), where it was formerly known, based upon specimens housed in the Paris Museum. We did not confirm this species at this site, but we found Mantella betsileo (Grandidier 1872): this is the first recent record for this species from a highaltitude locality in central Madagascar, indicating that its type locality (“Pays Betsileo”) is not erroneous, as formerly believed. Most of the species found on the high plateau are typical of eastern rainforests, but evidence from the studied sites confirms that the original zoological assemblages from the high plateau have undergone a marked decline. The giant snake Acrantophis dumerili Jan 1860 was found at Antoetra and near Antsirabe, representing important range extensions. At Antoetra, we also found Pseudoxyrhopus imerinae (Gunther 1890), which is the third known locality for this species. In the collection of the Turin museum, we found a further specimen of this rare snake, collected at Andrangoloaka at the end of the 19th century.