Abstract
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 nataliaesp. nov. as a new species. We propose an IUCN Red List status of Critically Endangered for B. nataliaesp. nov.
Highlights
The Mantellidae is a hyperdiverse family of frogs mostly endemic to Madagascar (Glaw and Vences 2006), with few representatives known from the Comoran island of Mayotte, an oceanic island separated from Madagascar by water depths of more than 3000 m
One species of the genus Boophis and one species of the genus Blommersia were known from Mayotte (Vences et al 2003), which have recently been described as Blommersia transmarina and Boophis nauticus (Glaw et al 2019)
The other can be considered as a new candidate species, Blommersia nataliae sp. nov
Summary
The Mantellidae is a hyperdiverse family of frogs mostly endemic to Madagascar (Glaw and Vences 2006), with few representatives known from the Comoran island of Mayotte, an oceanic island separated from Madagascar by water depths of more than 3000 m. The genus Blommersia comprises eleven described frog species and constitutes a monophyletic radiation with at least six undescribed, genetically divergent lineages that may warrant species status, suggesting that the genus is likely more diverse than currently known (Vieites et al 2009). Species in this genus are of small size and mostly terrestrial, occurring mainly in swamps, rice fields, paddy fields and other water bodies, which could be degraded, in open lands, as well as in dry and rain forests across Madagascar. This trend towards miniaturization makes them a remarkable group to study diversification patterns and speciation mechanisms related to body size evolution
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