Tree frog at night, Marojejy, Madagascar

Species under investigation.

comments (7)

John Sullivan

Lion

The Glaw & Vences guide (2007) shows two candidate species in Marojejy. The first is Boophis axelmeyeri. The second is called Boophis sp. aff. madagascariensis "North", and was later described and named as Boophis spinophis (according to http://markscherz.tumblr.com/changestoGnV07 ). Boophis madagascariensis itself doesn't range further north than approximately the latitude of Nosy Boraha. Both species have distinct heel and elbow spines, a generally uniform tan to light brown dorsal color, faint banding on the legs, and a ridge from the eye to the tip of the snout, all characteristics visible in this photo. Unfortunately I don't see anything in the photo that would distinguish one from the other. The most obvious difference described in the book is the call; also, B. axelmeyeri is somewhat smaller. Posted 9 years ago, modified 9 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thank you so much, John! Quite a dilemma to chose between these two candidates. I've been doing some visual comparison in search results between species and found this to be a reasonable match:
  http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/21910-Boophis-madagascariensis
  It doesn't prove this to be the definitive species, but I don't know what else to do :) Posted 9 years ago
2. 1. John Sullivan
    
    Lion
    
    Boophis axelmeyeri and Boophis spinophis both look essentially identical to Boophis madagascariensis, so it's probably not really possible to choose between them based on this photo. Posted 9 years ago
  2. 1. John Sullivan
      
      Lion
      
      If you want to pick one as a tentative ID (and why not?), I would go with Boophis spinophis. That one has somewhat more webbing on the hands. That's not visible in this photo, but in your other photo that was taken a few feet away you can see the webbing on the hands, and it looks more like the webbing in the one photo of B. spinophis in G&V than it does like the webbing of the one photo of B. axelmeyeri. Posted 9 years ago
    2. 1. John Sullivan
        
        Lion
        
        Again, B. madagascariensis doesn't range this far north, but B. spinophis looks so much like it that in G&V it was just called 'B. madagascariensis sp. aff. "North"'. Posted 9 years ago
      2. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Thank you John, will correct the species after dinner. Posted 9 years ago
      3. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        Done. Sorry for the guesswork, I misunderstood your initial comment about madagascariensis. When it is down to only two, I think a "most likely" match is warranted. Posted 9 years ago