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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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: David R. Vieites, Sandra Nieto-Román, Marcos Peso Fernández, Javier H. Santos-Santos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pensoft Publishers 2020-10-01
Series:ZooKeys
Online Access:https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/57012/download/pdf/
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:1313-2970