Gephyromantis ranjomavo Glaw and Vences, 2011

Vences, Miguel, Koehler, Joern, Crottini, Angelica, Hofreiter, Michael, Hutter, Carl R., du Preez, Louis, Preick, Michaela, Rakotoarison, Andolalao, Rancilhac, Lois, Raselimanana, Achille P., Rosa, Goncalo M., Scherz, Mark D. & Glaw, Frank, 2022, An integrative taxonomic revision and redefinition of Gephyromantis (Laurentomantis) malagasius based on archival DNA analysis reveals four new mantellid frog species from Madagascar, Vertebrate Zoology 72, pp. 271-309 : 271

Gephyromantis ranjomavo Glaw and Vences, 2011

Gephyromantis ranjomavo Glaw and Vences, 2011: 122

Note.

This species was previously known from two specimens ( Glaw and Vences 2011), one from the Marojejy Massif and another without precise locality data. As redefined here, the species includes a second deep genetic lineage, expanding the species’ range into the southwestern and western foothills of the Tsaratanana Massif (localities Ampotsidy and Manarikoba Forest on the western slope). Morphometric measurements of one newly collected male specimen (ZSM 60/2016 from Ampotsidy) are given in Table 1 , and color in life of this individual is shown in Fig. 7 . Compared to its sister species G. horridus (see data above), both the holotype from Marojejy ( Glaw and Vences 2011) and the male from Ampotsidy have relatively small femoral glands without externally visible large gland granules. A tibial gland is present in all specimens. According to the measurements reported in Vences et al. (2002), Glaw and Vences (2011) and this study, male SVL is 23.5 mm in Marojejy, and 25.8-28.1 mm in the remaining specimens; females are unknown.

Call.

We redescribe the advertisement call genetically assignable to Gephyromantis ranjomavo recorded on 17 February 1997 at Manarikoba Forest, Tsaratanana Strict Nature Reserve (air temperature 17.5°C; Vences et al. 2006: CD2, track 27). The call (previously described by Vences et al. 2002) consists of a long multinote call, usually emitted in series at regular intervals and fast succession (Fig. 8 ). Slight amplitude modulation is recognizable within calls, with notes at the beginning and the end of the call having lower energy. Notes consist of a single pulse, but in a few notes some diffuse substructure is recognizable. Frequency modulation is absent in notes. Numerical call parameters of 7 newly analyzed calls are as follows (range followed by mean ± standard deviation in parentheses): call duration 1780-2526 ms (2237.9 ± 255.6 ms); note duration 10-19 ms (13.6 ± 3.1 ms); number of notes per call 23-33 (29.0 ± 3.2); note repetition rate within calls 10.8-14.2 notes/second (12.7 ± 1.0 notes/second); call repetition rate within call series approximately 14-15 calls/minute; dominant frequency 2348-3204 Hz (2909 ± 355 Hz); prevalent bandwidth 2000-3800 Hz.

Figures

Figure 7. Adult males of Gephyromantis ranjomavo in life. A Dorsolateral and B ventral view of the holotype, ZSM 222 / 2005 (FGZC 2843) from Marojejy National Park. C - E Dorsolateral, dorsal and ventral views of specimen ZSM 60 / 2016 (MSZC 0163) from Ampotsidy, attributed to G. ranjomavo but genetically divergent. Not to scale.

Figure 8. Audiospectrogram and corresponding oscillogram of a 1000 ms section of one advertisement call of Gephyromantis ranjomavo recorded on 17 February 1997 at Manarikoba Forest. Recording band-pass filtered at 1000 - 7500 Hz.