''Spinomantis tavaratra'' is a species of

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

s in the mantellid

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Mantellinae Mantellinae is a subfamily of frogs in the family Mantellidae. These frogs are native to Madagascar and Mayotte. The species vary in size from under 25 mm (e.g. some species of '' Blommersia'') to over 100 mm (e.g. '' Mantidactylus gut ...

. It 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 elsew ...

to the humid forests of northwestern

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 ...

Taxonomy

This species was described in the genus ''

Spinomantis ''Spinomantis'' is a frog genus in the mantellid subfamily Mantellinae. This genus is restricted to Madagascar. At present it contains 13 species. They are arboreal or terrestrial frogs and occur in or along small streams. Most species are noctu ...

'' by Cramer, Rabibisoa, and Raxworthy in 2008. The species is named ''tavaratra'' is a Malagasy word for "the north", referencing the provenance of this species in northern Madagascar.

Description

Adult males measure in snout–vent length (SVL); females measure . The species is also characterised by simple dermal spines of less than length on the posterior margin of the tarsus.

Habitat and ecology

Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are primary forest near streams at elevations of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

, in Marojejy National Park but also on the Sorata massif. It is an arboreal species that breeds in streams.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4678693 tavaratra Endemic frogs of Madagascar Amphibians described in 2008