Hidden in plain sight: A new frog species of the genus blommersia from the oceanic island of mayotte, comoros archipelago

The amphibian fauna of the western Indian ocean volcanic island of Mayotte is currently constituted by two species belonging to two genera of the anuran family Mantellidae: Blommersia transmarina and Boophis nauticus. These were recently described after intense fieldwork on the herpetofauna of the i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Vieites, David R., Nieto-Román, Sandra, Peso Fernández, Marcos, Santos-Santos, Javier H.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/233385
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/233385
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Amphibia
Anuran
Blommersia nataliae sp. nov.
Comoros archipelago
Mantellidae
Mayotte
Descripción
Sumario:The amphibian fauna of the western Indian ocean volcanic island of Mayotte is currently constituted by two species belonging to two genera of the anuran family Mantellidae: Blommersia transmarina and Boophis nauticus. These were recently described after intense fieldwork on the herpetofauna of the island. We here describe a third new species of frog from Mayotte, based on morphological and molecular data, that occurs in sympatry with the others and was utterly unnoticed until now. Genetic analyses of the16S rRNA gene, including all described and several undescribed species of the genus Blommersia from Madagascar and Mayotte, confirms that the new species is the sister species of Blommersia transmarina. Both species show apparent morphological differences as well as different life histories, ecology and genetics that confirm Blommersia nataliae sp. nov. as a new species. We propose an IUCN Red List status of Critically Endangered for B. nataliae sp. nov.