Endangered
Scaphiophryne gottlebei
Scaphiophryne gottlebei
Scaphiophryne gottlebei, called the Malagasy rainbow frog, ornate hopper, rainbow burrowing frog, red rain frog or Gottlebe's narrow-mouthed frog, is one of the most highly decorated frogs from Madagascar.
Appearance
The Malagasy rainbow frog is a small, roundish, brightly coloured species with a distinctive white, orange–red, green and black pattern on the back, each area of that is clearly delineated. The skin on the back is very smooth, but that of the grey belly is a little bit rough. The snout is rounded, the eyes are prominent but the tympani are inconspicuous.
With a snout–vent length of 2.6 to 4 cm (1.0–1.6 in), females average larger and reach a larger maximum size than males that measure 2 to 3.4 cm (0.8–1.3 in).
Range and habitat
The Malagasy rainbow frog is endemic to the Isalo Massif at an altitude of 700–1,000 m (2,300–3,300 ft) in the central part of southern Madagascar, among them the Isalo National Park and areas south of it. Its primary habitat is narrow canyons where the conditions tend to be cool for the tropics, relatively dark (resulting in little or no vegetation) and very humid. The typical temperature in its habitat is 19–22 °C (66–72 °F), but overall varies from about 13 to 35 °C (55–95 °F).
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
The Malagasy rainbow frog is an explosive breeder (meaning that the breeding season is short and begins suddenly) that breeds in groups in November–December just after the first heavy rainfall in the early rainy season.
In crisis
The primary threats to this endangered species are habitat loss and capture for the pet trade (now illegal). The IUCN lists the Malagasy rainbow frog as "Endangered". It was formerly (from 2004 to 2008) "Critically Endangered", but this was reduced when it was found to be more widespread than previously thought and locally common. Although it is common in some areas, it has a restricted range and its population is believed to be decreasing.
The major threats are habitat loss and over-collection for the pet trade. Primary threats to the habitat are wood extraction, fire, overgrazing by livestock, mining and possibly disturbance by tourists.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Chytrid fungus, collection, and wet-forest loss are the usual pressures on frogs with a high threat category.
Scaphiophryne gottlebei is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Scaphiophryne gottlebei, Wikidata item Q2360445. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
