Showing papers on "Mantella published in 2004"
TL;DR: Cytochrome b data is provided for 143 individuals of three species in the Mantella madagascariensis group, including four newly discovered populations, providing further support for the hypothesis that the largely similar uniformly orange colour of the last two species evolved in parallel.
Abstract: Malagasy poison frogs of the genus Mantella are diurnal and toxic amphibians of highly variable and largely aposematic coloration. Previous studies provided evidence for several instances of homoplastic colour evolution in this genus but were unable to sufficiently resolve relationships among major species groups or to clarify the phylogenetic position of several crucial taxa. Here, we provide cytochrome b data for 143 individuals of three species in the Mantella madagascariensis group, including four newly discovered populations. Three of these new populations are characterized by highly variable coloration and patterns but showed no conspicuous increase of haplotype diversity which would be expected under a scenario of secondary hybridization or admixture of chromatically uniform populations. Several populations of these variable forms and of M. crocea were geographically interspersed between the distribution areas of Mantella aurantiaca and Mantella milotympanum . This provides further support for the hypothesis that the largely similar uniformly orange colour of the last two species evolved in parallel. Phylogenies based on over 2000 bp of two nuclear genes ( Rag-1 and Rag-2 ) identified reliably a clade of the Mantella betsileo and Mantella laevigata groups as sister lineage to the M. madagascariensis group, but did not support species within the latter group as monophyletic. The evolutionary history of these frogs might have been characterized by fast and recurrent evolution of colour patterns, possibly triggered by strong selection pressures and mimicry effects, being too complex to be represented by simple bifurcating models of phylogenetic reconstruction.
115 citations
TL;DR: Diversity patterns and field observations indicate relatively large population sizes, which suggests overcollecting is probably a minor problem and conservation efforts should rather focus on saving some large populations from habitat destruction through logging and forest fires.
35 citations
01 Jan 2004
TL;DR: An updated description of Mantella manery is provided, based on morphological examination of the holotype of this species, which has been rediscovered by us in 2004.
Abstract: The Malagasy poison frog Mantella manery Vences, Glaw & Bohme, 1999 was described on the basis of color slides of a specimen deposited in the collection of the Departement de Biologie Animale, Universite d’Antananarivo, which is the only voucher of this species known to date. The holotype of this species was not available for morphological examination at the time of the description but has been rediscovered by us in 2004. Its catalogue number is UADBA 7273 and its snout-vent length is 22.7 mm. We here provide an updated description of Mantella manery, based on morphological examination of the holotype.
2 citations