''Rhombophryne serratopalpebrosa'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

of the Madagascar endemic microhylid subfamily

Cophylinae Cophylinae is a subfamily of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It has over 100 species in eight genera. Members of this subfamily range from minute ( 100 mm adult body size), and they are highly ecologically diverse. DNA barcode res ...

. Genetic evidence revealed that it is a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

, in need of resolution. This work has made significant progress, and five related species have been described from this complex between 2014 and 2017. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

Range and distribution

''Rhombophryne serratopalpebrosa'' is

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 else ...

to the Marojejy

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

in northern

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 ...

. At present it is only known with certainty from the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

specimen. Its type locality is at high elevation on the Marojejy massif. Records from outside of

Marojejy National Park Marojejy National Park () is a national park in the Sava region of northeastern Madagascar. It covers and is centered on the Marojejy Massif, a mountain chain that rises to an elevation of . Access to the area around the massif was restricted t ...

may refer to other species, and at present this species has only been confirmed from this single location.

Description

The holotype of ''Rhombophryne serratopalpebrosa'' measures roughly long. Its fingers and toes are unwebbed, and its

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...

skin is grainy. It possesses four spines above each eye, the posterior-most of which is indistinct.

Taxonomy

''Rhombophryne serratopalpebrosa'' was described as a member of the genus ''

Plethodontohyla ''Plethodontohyla'' is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. Species There are at present 11 species: * '' Plethodontohyla alluaudi'' (Mocquard, 1901) * '' Plethodontohyla bipunctata'' (Guibé, 1974) * '' Plethodontohyla brevipes'' ...

'' by Guibé in 1975. ''Plethodontohyla serratopalpebrosa'' was transferred to the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Rhombophryne ''Rhombophryne'' is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It is currently estimated to include more than 23 species, but only 20 of these are currently described. The common name 'diamond frog' has been proposed and used for members ...

'' by Wollenberg and colleagues. The original description was brief, and the species was re-described by Scherz and colleagues in 2014 to facilitate a review of the ''R. serratopalpebrosa''

. The closest related species of ''Rhombophryne'' share also the superciliary spines: '' Rhombophryne vaventy'', '' R. coronata'', '' R. ornata'', '' R. tany, R. regalis'', and '' R. diadema'' — together these species form the "''Rhombophryne serratopalpebrosa'' species group". The closest relative is suspected to be '' R. regalis'', which is smaller but shares certain morphological characters such as an s-shaped fold posterior to the nostril, but their relationship is uncertain due to the lack of genetic material from ''R. serratopalepbrosa''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4498588 Amphibians described in 1975 serratopalpebrosa Endemic frogs of Madagascar Taxa named by Jean Marius René Guibé