Hidden in plain sight: a new frog species of the genus Blommersia from the oceanic island of Mayotte, Comoros archipelago

By

Vieites, David
Nieto Roman, Sandra
Peso Fernández, Marcos
Santos-Santos, Javier H.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

994

Pages

149--166

Subjects

Amphibia , Anura , Blommersia nataliae sp. nov , Comoros archipelago , Mantellidae , Mayotte

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.994.57012

 

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 transmarinaandBoophis 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 genusBlommersiafrom Madagascar and Mayotte, confirms that the new species is the sister species ofBlommersia transmarina. Both species show apparent morphological differences as well as different life histories, ecology and genetics that confirmBlommersia nataliaesp. nov.as a new species. We propose an IUCN Red List status of Critically Endangered forB. nataliaesp. nov.