The Mantellidae are an

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Anura (frogs and toads), and are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

islands of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

and

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

. At first glance, the diminutive, brightly-coloured mantellas appear visually similar to (and indeed fill similar

ecological niches In ecology, a niche is the match of a species to a specific environmental condition. Three variants of ecological niche are described by It describes how an organism or population responds to the distribution of resources and competitors (for e ...

as) the

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

poison dart frogs, such as ''

Dendrobates ''Dendrobates'' is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America. It once contained numerous species, but most originally placed in this genus have been split off into other genera such as '' Adelphobates'', '' Ameerega'', '' ...

'', ''

Oophaga ''Oophaga'' is a genus of poison-dart frogs containing twelve species, many of which were formerly placed in the genus ''Dendrobates''. The frogs are distributed in Central and South America, from Nicaragua south through the El Chocó to norther ...

'' and ''

Phyllobates ''Phyllobates'' is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America, from Nicaragua to Colombia. There are 3 different Colombian species of ''Phyllobates'', considered highly toxic species due to the poison they contain in the wil ...

'', among others.

Systematics

The family Mantellidae is composed of three extremely diverse groups of frogs, across three

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zool ...

: the

Mantellinae Mantellinae is a subfamily of frogs in the family Mantellidae. These frogs are native to Madagascar and Mayotte. The species vary in size from under 25 mm (e.g. some species of ''Blommersia'') to over 100 mm (e.g. '' Mantidactylus guttu ...

(Laurent, 1946) are typically terrestrial or semi-aquatic frogs, the

Laliostominae Laliostominae is a subfamily of frogs in the family Mantellidae. It contains two genera and a total of seven species. These frogs are native to Madagascar. Genera There are two recognized genera: * ''Aglyptodactylus'' Boulenger, 1919 (6 species) ...

( Vences & Glaw, 2001) are terrestrial, fairly large frogs, and the

Boophinae ''Boophis'' is the only genus in the Mantellidae, mantellid frog subfamily Boophinae. They are commonly known as bright-eyed or skeleton frogs. They show typical 'tree frog' traits, and are a good example of convergent evolution with morphologi ...

( Vences & Glaw, 2001) are arboreal tree frogs, sharing far more physical and behavioral characteristics with true tree frogs than the tiny mantellids. Apart from the

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

assigned to the three

, the actual placement of ''

Tsingymantis ''Tsingymantis'' is a monotypic genus of frogs in the family Mantellidae. The sole species is ''Tsingymantis antitra''. Taxonomy ''Tsingymantis antitra'' was described by Glaw, Hoegg and Vences in 2006. Its taxonomic placement within the famil ...

'' ( Glaw, Hoegg & Vences, 2006) is still uncertain. As of 22 September 2022, at least 237 species are recognized in this family.

DNA barcoding DNA barcoding is a method of species identification using a short section of DNA from a specific gene or genes. The premise of DNA barcoding is that by comparison with a reference library of such DNA sections (also called " sequences"), an indiv ...

research has shown, however, that more than 100 distinct genetic lineages remain taxonomically undescribed.

Evolution and island biogeography

The Mantellidae are Madagascar's most diverse frog family. It has been shown that there is a negative correlation between body size and species diversity in this family, which is probably related to the lower dispersal potential of smaller animals. This family is estimated to have colonized the island of Madagascar 76–87 million years ago. They are phylogenetically nested within Asian frogs, and therefore probably represent a dispersal event from Asia. Two undescribed species of mantellid frogs are currently resident on the island of

, off Madagascar's west coast. These species belong to two genera that are otherwise exclusively endemic to Madagascar.

Reproduction

Reproductive modes in the Mantellidae are highly varied. Eggs can be laid in or out of water, on the ground or on leaves, depending on genus and species. ''

Guibemantis ''Guibemantis'' is a frog genus in the mantellid subfamily Mantellinae. This genus is restricted to Madagascar. At present it contains 25 species divided into two subgenera. Taxonomy The genus ''Guibemantis'' was erected as a subgenus of ''Man ...

'' frogs of the subgenus '' Pandanusicola'' lay their eggs either in phytotelms or over slow-flowing water. Some species of ''

Gephyromantis ''Gephyromantis'' is a frog genus in the mantellid subfamily Mantellinae. This genus is restricted to Madagascar. At present it contains 45 species divided into six subgenera. Taxonomy The genus ''Gephyromantis'' was erected by Methuen in 1920 ...

'' have

direct development Direct development is a concept in biology. It refers to forms of growth to adulthood that do not involve metamorphosis. An animal undergoes direct development if the immature organism resembles a small adult rather than having a distinct larval ...

nidicolous In biology, nidifugous ( , ) organisms are those that leave the nest shortly after hatching or birth. The term is derived from Latin ''nidus'' for "nest" and ''fugere'', meaning "to flee". The terminology is most often used to describe birds and w ...

tadpoles. Members of the subfamilies Boophinae and Laliostominae have

amplexus Amplexus (Latin "embrace") is a type of Mating, mating behavior exhibited by some External fertilization, externally fertilizing species (chiefly amphibians, Amphipoda, amphipods, and horseshoe crabs) in which a male grasps a female with his fro ...

, but mantelline frogs do not. Parental care is known from a few species (e.g. '' Mantidactylus argenteus''). Sexual size dimorphism is present in most species, with females being larger than males, but there are exceptions (e.g. '' Boophis albilabris''), where males are larger than females, possibly as a result of males fighting for access to females.

In captivity

Some members of this family are popular in the

exotic pet An exotic pet is a pet which is relatively rare or unusual to keep, or is generally thought of as a Wild animal, wild species rather than as a Domesticated animal, domesticated pet. The definition varies by culture, location, and over time—as an ...

trade for their bright colors (e.g. ''

Mantella ''Mantella'' (also known as golden frogs or Malagasy poison frogs) are a prominent genus of Aposematism, aposematic frogs in the family Mantellidae, Endemism, endemic to the island of Madagascar. Members of ''Mantella'' are Diurnality, diurnal an ...

'' and ''

Boophis ''Boophis'' is the only genus in the mantellid frog subfamily Boophinae. They are commonly known as bright-eyed or skeleton frogs. They show typical 'tree frog' traits, and are a good example of convergent evolution with morphologically simila ...

'').

References

External links

Description of family and list of genera and species

Mantellidae taxonomy
{{Authority control Taxa named by Raymond Laurent Amphibian families