Blommersia wittei (Guibé, 1973)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Mantellidae > Subfamily: Mantellinae > Genus: Blommersia > Species: Blommersia wittei

Mantidactylus wittei Guibé, 1973, Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris, Ser. 3, Zool., 171: 1169. Holotype: MNHNP 1953.60, by original designation. Type locality: "Environs d'Ambanja", Forest Ankarafantsika, Madagascar.

Mantidactylus (Blommersia) witteiDubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 311.

Blommersia witteiVences and Glaw, 2006, in Vences et al. (eds.), Calls Frogs Madagascar: 15; Glaw and Vences, 2006, Organisms Divers. Evol., 6: 242; by implication; Glaw and Vences, 2006, Organisms Divers. Evol., Electron. Suppl., 11(1): 2.

English Names

Witte's Madagascar Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 101).

Distribution

Northern Madagascar from Benavony, Andapa, and Sambava north; Nosy Be and adjacent Nosy Komba. 

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Madagascar

Endemic: Madagascar

Comment

Prior to the revision of Glaw and Vences, 2006, Organisms Divers. Evol., 6: 236-253, in the Mantidactylus argenteus group of in the Mantidactylus argenteus group of Blommers-Schlösser and Blanc, 1991, Faune de Madagascar, 75: 160; in the Mantidactylus (Blommersia) argenteus group of Dubois, 1992, Bull. Mens. Soc. Linn. Lyon, 61: 311, and the Mantidactylus (Blommersia) domerguei group of Glaw and Vences, 2002, Herpetol. J., 12: 11-20. Andreone, Glaw, Nussbaum, Raxworthy, Vences, and Randrianirina, 2003, J. Nat. Hist., London, 37: 2119-2149, discussed the occurrence of this species on Nosy Be. Glaw and Vences, 2007, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Madagascar, Ed. 3: 186-187, provided an account and noted an unnamed similar species in western Madagascar. Roberts and Daly, 2014, Salamandra, 50: 18–26, reported this species from Nosy Komba, between Nosy Be and the mainland. Rodriguez, Börner, Pabijan, Gehara, Haddad, and Vences, 2015, Evol. Ecol., 29: 765–785 (and supplemental data), reported on phylogeographic diversity and its causes. With the recognition of Blommersia bara by Vences, Multzsch, Köhler, Crottini, Andreone, Rakotoarison, Scherz, and Glaw, 2023, Zootaxa, 5319: 178–198 (which is distinctive in morphology, molecular markers, and advertisement call), the range of Blommersia wittei was restricted to northern Madagascar. These authors also noted populations which require further investigation as to their evolutionary status. 

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