A New Species of Scaphiophryne from Western Madagascar
We describe the adult and larval morphology, advertisement call, ecology, and life history of a new species of Marbled Toad from the dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar on the basis of eight specimens from Kirindy Forest C. F. P. F. in the central Menabe area. Scaphiophryne menabensis n. sp. is larger, but morphologically similar to S. marmorata from the eastern rainforests. However, DNA sequence analysis of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene resulted in a clear differentiation from this species. The strongest mitochondrial affinities are with S. madagascariensis, a morphologically highly divergent species occurring in montane savanna and forest areas on the high plateau of Madagascar.Abstract
(A) Dorsolateral and (B) Ventral views of living adult specimen of Scaphiophryne menabensis n. sp. For color photograph see Glos (2003). (C) Lateral view and (D) Dorsal view of a Scaphiophryne menabensis n. sp. tadpole at stage 39. Scale bars represent 5 mm
Strict consensus phylogram of four most parsimonious trees obtained by maximum parsimony searches based on 528 nucleotides of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. First numbers are bootstrap support values from a maximum parsimony bootstrap analysis (2000 replicates). Second numbers are bootstrap support values in percent from a maximum likelihood search, based on a RTrN + I + G nucleotide substitution model selected by Modeltest, with empirical base frequencies and sustitution rates, a proportion of invariable sites of 0.5662, and a gamma distribution shape parameter of 0.4066. Where only single numbers are given, they refer to the parsimony bootstrap analysis. Values below 50% are not shown. Collecting localities are shown for specimens with reliable data; others were obtained from commercial collectors. Abbreviations: S. = Scaphiophryne, P. = Paradoxophyla, M. = Microhyla
The advertisement call of Scaphiophryne menabensis n. sp. Audiospectrogram (sonogram: frequency in kHz vs. time) and oscillogram (relative amplitude vs. time)
Contributor Notes
(JG) Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, Würzburg University, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany; (FG) Zoologische Staatssammlung, Münchhausenstr. 21, 81247 München, Germany; (MV) Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Zoological Museum, University of Amsterdam, Mauritskade 61, 1092 AD Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (JG) glos@biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de Send reprint requests to JG.