Mantella Conservation Project - Facebook Page

[MantellaGuy]

Hi everyone,

Upon the publishing of the first part of my Mantella article series for Practical Reptile Keeping magazine on the 4th of April, I created a Facebook like-page to try and raise awareness about these fascinating and unique genera of Anura.

Please feel free to join and invite your friends, by clicking on the photo below which contains a Hyper-link;

The Mantella Conservation Project aims to raise awareness about one of the world’s most beautiful and highly endangered genera of Anura (Frogs & Toads), the Malagasy Golden Frogs or more commonly known as Mantella.

We will supply the public with information about conservation efforts in Madagascar and also Hobbyists, Collectors, Zoo Keepers and Conservationists with information about how keep and breed these amazing species in captivity.

With the genus first being correctly described by Belgium born zoologist George Albert Boulenger in 1882, Mantella are a small genus of approximately 16 Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobatidae - Cope, 1865) like Anuran’s which can be found in many different Biotopes across the island. Because they share many similarities to their Neotropical relatives the Poison Dart Frog family (Dendrobatidae - Cope, 1865), the original discoverer Alfred Grandidier placed the species known as the Brown Leaf Mantella (Mantella betsileo - Grandidier, 1872) and Madagascan Mantella (Mantella madagascarensis) into the family Dendrobatidae which was mainly attributed to their use of Aposematism as a defence. However, it was eventually corrected in 1882 by Boulenger who placed the species at the time into the newly created, Mantella genus and since then more species have been discovered or reclassified.

The 16 species are known as the following:
• Golden Mantella (Mantella aurantiaca) CR – (Mocquard, 1900)
• Harlequin Mantella (Mantella cowanni) CR – (Boulenger, 1882)
• Climbing Mantella (Mantella laevigata) NT – (Methuen & Hewitt, 1913)
• Brown Leaf Mantella (Mantella betsileo) LC – (Grandidier, 1872)
• Harald Meier’s Mantella (Mantella haraldmeieri) VU – (Busse, 1981)
• Baron’s Painted Mantella (Mantella baroni) LC – (Boulenger, 1888)
• Bernhard’s Mantella (Mantella bernhardi) EN – (Vences, Glaw, Peyrieras, Böhme & Busse, 1994)
• Bronze Mantella (Mantella ebenaui) LC – (Boettger, 1880)
• Yellow Mantella (Mantella crocea) EN – (Pintak & Böhme, 1990)
• Blue-legged Mantella (Mantella expectata) EN – (Busse & Böhme, 1992)
• Malagasy Painted Mantella (Mantella madagascariensis) VU – (Grandidier, 1872)
• Marojejy Mantella (Mantella manery) VU – (Vences, Glaw & Böhme, 1999)
• Black-eared Mantella (Mantella milotympanum) CR - (Staniszewski, 1996)
• Guibe’s Mantella (Mantella nigricans) LC – (Guibé, 1978)
• Beautiful Mantella (Mantella pulchra) VU – (Parker, 1925)
• Green Mantella (Mantella viridis) EN – (Pintak & Böhme, 1988)


Each species has its own variation in colouration, due to the use of Aposematism or loosely translated from Greek “Warning Colouration”, an adaptation used most commonly by the Poison Dart Frogs of the Neo-tropics and when you look at both side by side, you can really see why they were originally thought to be Poison Dart Frogs.

Unfortunately and shockingly, this genus like so much of Madagascar’s wildlife is under serious threat of extinction and with approximately 90% (World Wildlife Fund - 2001) of the islands fauna and flora being solely endemic to Madagascar, we are in danger of losing all this unique wildlife.
The biggest threat is mainly Habitat-loss, which is solely attributed to the actions of people, both native and foreign to Madagascar. People have affected the naturally occurring habitats so much that it is believed that most of the land has been lost permanently, the “Slash and Burn” or also known as “Tavy” techniques are mainly responsible for much of the Deforestation across most of Madagascar.

The habitat-loss issue has isolated and fragmented many of the known localities for many members of the Mantella genus, but another big factor in their decline is the every growing popularity within our Pet Industry. For decades, wild caught specimens have been annually exported from the island in large numbers either illegally or legally and most species including the Golden Mantella (Mantella aurantiaca - Mocquard, 1900) have been already established in captivity. This species, despite its high categorisation on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species of Critically Endangered, can be commonly found due to being incredibly easy to breed and is quite sought after by many Amphibian or Mantella enthusiasts.
But unfortunately for the rest of the genus, the same cannot be said for them. Most Mantella are incredibly hard to come by with only occasional sales of the odd few individuals, leaving a huge gap in the market for individuals to be imported to satisfy demands.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US:-

Please once you have joined our group, invite your friends to carry on raising awareness across the globe.

If you wish to provide Published Information (of your own), Conservation Information, Photographs and other forms of media then please don't hesitate to "Private Message" us via the "Message" function box or even simply posting on our publically viewed wall.

Please Note - Joining this page will not save any species of Amphibian, this page is in use to provide Information, News and Media types to raise awareness.