''Boophis haingana'' is an endangered species of skeleton frog

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

to southeastern

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. It is characterized by its advertisement call, which has shorter note durations and faster note repetitions compared to other frogs in its genus. It is pale green in color and translucent at certain parts of the body, such as the dorsal and ventral skin.

Taxonomy

''Boophis haingana'' is one of many frogs in the ''B. albipunctatus'' group. Within the group, it is categorized as being within the same clade of species that are morphologically similar: ''B. ankaratra'', ''B. schuboeae'', ''B. miadana'', and ''B. haingana''. It was described by Frank Glaw,

Jörn Köhler Jörn Köhler (born 23 June 1970 in Göttingen) is a German herpetologist. He studied biology at the University of Bonn and received a Ph.D. in zoology in 2000, being associated with the '' Zoologische Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig'', Bonn. His ...

, Ignacio Riva, David R. Vietes, and

Miguel Vences Professor Miguel Vences (born 24 April 1969 in Cologne) is a German herpetologist and evolutionary biologist. Much of his research is focused on the reptiles and amphibians of Madagascar. Life The son of Galician philosopher Sergio Vences Fer ...

in their 2010 paper titled "Integrative taxonomy of Malagasy treefrogs: combination of molecular genetics, bioacoustics and comparative morphology reveals twelve additional species of ''Boophis''". In molecular phylogenetic analysis described in Glaw's paper, ''B. haingana'' differs 4.1–4.6% from '' B. ankaratra'', 4.4–4.6% from '' B. miadana'', and 4.6–4.8% from '' B. schuboeae''. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

is derived from the Malagasy word "haingana" which means "fast", in reference to the note repetition rate in advertisement calls, which is fast in comparison to other species.

Description

''Boophis haingana'' is pale green in color with yellow and brown spots. It has a greenish-blue throat, and its ventral skin is transparent. Its iris is white and red around the pupil, with a black ring surrounding it. Females are larger than males, having approximately 136% of the male SVL. Calling males were observed to have a highly extensible single subgular

vocal sac The vocal sac is the flexible membrane of skin possessed by most male frogs and toads. The purpose of the vocal sac is usually as an amplification of their mating or advertisement call. The presence or development of the vocal sac is one way o ...

. ''Boophis haingana'' has the traits typical for a frog in the ''Boophis'' genus such as having an intercalary element between the last and second-to-last fingers and toes, absence of femoral and gular glands in males, and enlarged terminal discs on the fingers and toes. It is assigned to the ''Boophis albipunctatus'' group based on features such as its small size, absence of flaps on the heel and elbow, presence of webbing between fingers, an indistinct canthus rostralis, and having a translucent green dorsum, presence of

vomer The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...

ine teeth, and other features.

Behavior

Within its clade, ''B. haingana'' has the shortest duration of notes in advertisement calls. The pulses of notes of ''B. hainganga'' are partially fused, differentiating it from frogs like ''B. ankaratra'' which have distinct pulses. Compared to ''B. miadana'', ''B. haingana'' has shorter note duration and faster note repetition.

Habitat and distribution

''B. haingana'' is found in forests and wetlands in southeastern Madagascar. ''B. haingana'' is endangered according to the IUCN Redlist.

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q2910519 haingana Endemic frogs of Madagascar Amphibians described in 2010 Taxa named by Frank Glaw Taxa named by Ignacio J. De la Riva Taxa named by Miguel Vences Taxa named by Jörn Köhler