Ankafana Bright Eyed Frog

A green, medium-sized treefrog with snout vent length 35-60 mm; males 35-40 mm, one female 51 mm. Venter is bluish to greenish. Skin on the back is smooth. White lateral fringes are along lower arm and tarsus. Iris with a red ring on the outer iris area. Nostrils are slightly nearer to eye than to tip of snout. Tympanum/eye ratio is about 1/2. Tibiotarsal articulation reaches tip of snout or beyond. Webbing of the hand: a trace of web between finger 1 and 2, 2e(1), 3i(2), 3e(1), 4(1); webbing of the foot 1(0), 2i(1), 2e(0), 3i(1), 3e(0), 4i/e(1), 5(0). Males are with white nuptial pads and a bluish, paired subgular vocal sac. Tadpoles live in flowing water and are brownish or blackish-green in late metamorphic stages, with brown or black spots on the caudal musculature. The belly is transparent in early stages becoming silvery in later stages. Total length in stage 25: 14-28 mm; in stages 35-38: 50-65 mm. The mouth is small and directed ventrally. Eyes are large and directed laterally. At midlength of the tail, the caudal musculature represents about 2/5-1/2 of the total tail height. Tooth formula is 1/5+5//3 or 1/4+4//3. Metamorphosing juveniles measure 18-25 mm from snout to vent. Their colour is green with a red spot between the eyes and two lateral yellow lines from the tip of the snout, over the eye, to the insertion of the hindlimbs. A second tadpole type with a tooth formula of 1/2+2//3 or 1/3+3//3 was also assigned to this species. At Tolagnaro only the first form occured. Similar species: Boophis elenae, B. englaenderi and B. l. septentrionalis have no red ring around the iris. Other species of the luteus and rappiodes-group are smaller.Taken with permission from Glaw and Vences (2007).

Ambatolahy forest, Ambohitantely, Andasibe, Andohahela, Itremo, Isalo, Mandraka, Midongy, Nahampoana, Pic St. Louis, Ranomafana (Andranaroa river), Vevembe. It occurs between 300-1,100m asl. This species lives in pristine and degraded rainforest, in secondary vegetation where trees survive, and along streams, where it breeds (Nussbaum et al. 2008).

Males call during the evening and night from shrubs, trees and rocks along brooks in, and outside of, dense forest; also during dry nights. Couples in axillary amplexus have been found in January and March. Call: The call is a melodious sound that can last for several minutes. It consists of whistling notes [duration 75 ms (Tolagnaro; 25 °C) to 100 ms (Andasibe;18 °C)] repeated after short intervals of 40 (25 °C) to 90 ms (18 °C). Note repetition rate at the two temperatures is 9.3/s and 5.5/s. When beginning to call, males first emit single notes with longer intervals between them; after some time they start calling as described above. Frequency ranges from 3 to 3.5 kHz (Tolagnaro) and 2.7-3.2 (Andasibe). Between the south (Tolagnaro) and centre (Andasibe) only minor call differences were found. Another call description is generally in accordance with these parameters. When clasped, males emit single whistling tones.Eggs: One female deposited about 200 black, very sticky eggs, with a diameter of 2 mm. At Tolagnaro a clutch that very probably belongs to this species was fixed on a vertical stone where fast-running shallow water cascaded down a large rock. Egg diameter, including the strong jelly, was 3 mm. After separating from the stone, about 120 tadpoles (8 mm total length) hatched. A couple from Mandraka (female 51 mm snout vent length) produced a clutch of 190 eggs in January; egg diameter was 2.5 mm, including the jelly 4 mm.

Least Concern: wide distribution and tolerance of habitat modification. It occurs in many protected areas (Nussbaum et al. 2008).

Boophis luteus is a species of frog in the family Mantellidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, rivers, and heavily degraded former forest. It is threatened by habitat loss. The Boophis luteus has a snout vent length 35-60mm; males 35-40mm, one female 51mm. Their venter is bluish to greenish, and the skin on their back is smooth.