Mantella Boulenger, 1882

Common Names

Golden Frogs (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 100).

Malagasy Poison Frogs (CITES).

Distribution

Madagascar.

Comment

Vences, Glaw, and Böhme, 1999, Alytes, 17: 3–72, provide accounts for all species, a key, and detailed discussions of nomenclature and taxonomy as well as conservation status. See also Guibé, 1964, Senckenb. Biol., 45: 259–264, Busse, 1981, Amphibia-Reptilia, 2: 23–42, and Blommers-Schlösser and Blanc, 1991, Faune de Madagascar, 75: 261–274, for synonymies and revision. See also Glaw and Vences, 1994, Fieldguide Amph. Rept. Madagascar, Ed. 2: 178–185. Daly, Andriamaharavo, Andriantsiferana, and Myers, 1996, Am. Mus. Novit., 3177: 1–34, provided information on the species and a discussion of phylogenetic placement. Zimmermann, 1996, in Lourenço (ed.), Biogeograph. Madagascar: 385–396, discussed the possible monophyly of Mantella + Dendrobatidae + Arthroleptis (Arthroleptinae). (Zimmermann did not include mantidactylines in the phylogeny reconstruction, which would likely partition any long-edge attraction of dendrobatids and Mantella [DRF]; see Noble and Parker, 1926, Am. Mus. Novit., 232: 4, who suggested that Mantidactylus (sensu lato) was paraphyletic with respect to Mantella.) Pintak, Vences, Glaw, and Böhme, 1998, Folia Zool., 47: 197–204, reported on karylogical evolution in Mantella. Vences, Hille, and Glaw, 1998, Folia Zool., 47: 261–274, reported on allozyme divergence and cladogeny in Mantella. Staniszewski, 2001, Mantellas, discussed the biology and summarized the sysematics of the taxon. Schaefer, Vences, and Veith, 2002, Organisms Divers. Evol., 2: 97–105, discussed phylogenetics on the basis of DNA data and defined the following species group: 1) Mantella cowani group (Mantella baroni, Mantella nigricans, Mantella cowani, and Mantella haraldmeieri); 2) Mantella bernhardi group (Mantella bernhardi); 3) Mantella madagascariensis group (Mantella aurantiaca, Mantella crocea, Mantella madagascariensis, Mantella milotympanum, Mantella pulchra); 4) Mantella laevigata group (Mantella laevigata); and 5) Mantella betsileo group (Mantella betsileo, Mantella expectata, Mantella viridis). Vences, Glaw, Andreone, Jesu, and Schimmenti, 2002, Contrib. Zool., Amsterdam, 70: 191–212, suggested that Mantidactylus (Guibemantis) liber is more closely related to Mantella than to other Mantidactylus, rendering the latter paraphyletic. Chiari, Vences, Vieites, Rabemananjara, Bora, Ravoahangimalala, and Meyer, 2004, Mol. Ecol., 13: 3763–3774, suggested on the basis of DNA sequence data that a group composed of Mantella laevigata and Mantella betsileo is the sister taxon of the Mantella madagascariensis group. Glaw and Vences, 2007, Field Guide Amph. Rept. Madagascar, Ed. 3: 188–199, provided accounts. Kurabayashi, Sumida, Yonekawa, Glaw, Vences, and Hasegawa, 2008, Mol. Biol. Evol., 25: 874–891, suggested that Wakea is the sister taxon of Mantella (although restricted taxon sampling may affect this result). Jovanovic, Glos, Glaw, Randrianiaina, and Vences, 2009, Zootaxa, 2124: 21–27, discussed comparative larval morphology. Pyron and Wiens, 2011, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 61: 543–583, confirmed this result in their molecular tree based on Genbank sequences. Crottini, Orozco-terWengel, Rabemananjara, Hauswaldt, and Vences, 2019, Genes, 10(317): 1–25, reported on mitochondrial introgression, color pattern variation and severe demographic bottlenecks. Klonoski, Bi, and Rosenblum, 2019, Ecol. Evol., 9: 2725–2742, reported on the genetics of Mantella aurantiaca, Mantella crocea, and Mantella milotympanum, noting that lineage diversity appears to be underestimated and not corresponding with species boundaries. 

Contained taxa (16 sp.):

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