Rana guttulata Boulenger, 1881

Rancilhac, Loïs, Bruy, Teddy, Scherz, Mark D., Pereira, Elvis Almeida, Preick, Michaela, Straube, Nicolas, Lyra, Mariana L., Ohler, Annemarie, Streicher, Jeffrey W., Andreone, Franco, Crottini, Angelica, Hutter, Carl R., Randrianantoandro, J. Christian, Rakotoarison, Andolalao, Glaw, Frank, Hofreiter, Michael & Vences, Miguel, 2020, Target-enriched DNA sequencing from historical type material enables a partial revision of the Madagascar giant stream frogs (genus Mantidactylus), Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 54 (1 - 4), pp. 87-118 : 106

Rana guttulata Boulenger, 1881

Lectotype. BMNH 1947.2 .25.51, designated lectotype by Blommers-Schlösser and Blanc (1991), from the region of Betsileo (S.E. Betsileo), collected by Bartlett.

Paralectotypes. Four specimens, BMNH 1947.2 . 25.48–50, BMNH 1947.2 . 25.52, with same collection locality and data as lectotype .

Junior synonym. Rana pigra Mocquard, 1900 . Holotype: MNHN 1899.410 , from ‘forêt d’ Ikongo’.

Referred material. For field numbers of additional specimens referred to M. guttulat us genetically, see Figure 1 . For morphological measurements of types and five additional specimens in the ZSM collection, see Table 1 .

Remarks. Mantidactylus (M.) guttulatus is a large nocturnal stream-dwelling frog, distributed at elevations from 810 m a.s.l. (Vohidrazana) to ca. 1500 m a.s.l. (Antoetra). It is typically found in slow-moving parts of small streams in rainforest, and almost, nothing is known about its natural history. Based on genetic data herein, confirmed localities are (from north to south) Fierenana, Andasibe, Maromizaha, Mangabe region, An’ Ala and Vohidrazana in the Northern Central East, and Antoetra, Vohiparara, Ranomafana and Ivohibe in the Southern Central East of Madagascar (map in Figure 1 ). If Rana pigra is correctly assigned as a junior synonym to M. guttulatus , then a further locality would be Ikongo Forest.

The definition of this species has had a very convoluted history, and many populations and specimens have intermittently been named M. guttulatus . A complete revision of all these uses in the literature is beyond the scope of this paper. Glaw and Vences (2007) defined populations from Tsaratanana as M. guttulatus , and calls and tadpoles of the lineage occurring at Tsaratanana were also described under this name (Vences et al. 2004; Schulze et al. 2016). However, this population corresponds to the new species M. radaka sp. nov. described below. The tadpole described by Altig and McDiarmid (2006) as M. guttulatus actually belongs to M. majori , a representative of the subgenus Hylobatrachus ( Randrianiaina et al. 2011) .

Figures

Figure 1. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree obtained from 514 bp of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene. The values at the nodes are the bootstrap supports (not given for intra-lineage nodes for improved clarity). The type specimens of M. guttulatus and M. grandidieri from the London and Paris museum collections are highlighted in red and brown, respectively.