#mantidactylus

[markscherz]

Please enjoy the glorious backside of one of Madagascar's chonkiest frogs. This is an undescribed species of Mantidactylus from eastern Madagascar.

[frogs-from-bogs]

Mantidactylus ulcerosus by Aaron Bloch

[markscherz]

🐸 HOT OFF THE PRESS! 🐸

We have just published the description of TWENTY new species of frog from Madagascar! A huge leap forward in Malagasy frog taxonomy! This was an enormous collaborative effort by our team of 22 coauthors—some 30 years in the making.

You can read about our magnum opus on the subgenus Brygoomantis here: http://www.markscherz.com/archives/5319

The paper is Open Access in the journal Megataxa: https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.7.2.1

[markscherz]

Hello! Can you tell me how big Mantidactylus radaka is? I'm an independent game developer making a game about frogs, and I'd love to put a character based on that charming little fella in. Thanks!

Mantidactylus radaka is about 10 cm. It’s a big frog for Madagascar, but small compared to many others.

[frogs-from-bogs]

Mantidactylus grandidieri by Stephen Zozaya

[frogs-from-bogs]

Mantidactylus radaka, source: x

[frogs-from-bogs]

Mantidactylus guttulatus, source: x

[markscherz]

Thrilled to announce the description of one of the largest #frogs in #Madagascar, Mantidactylus radaka! It took a lot of sleuthing, including sequencing 120-year-old specimens, to be able to confidently describe this #newspecies! Its description was important, however, because these are among the frogs that are eaten by people in Madagascar, and they may be at risk of local over-harvesting, in additional to ongoing #deforestation and #habitatloss. You can find a link to get the PDF of the paper at http://www.markscherz.com/publications . . . . . . #science #taxonomy #systematics #museomics #taxonomcis #research #Mantidactylus #naturalhistory #herpetology #wildlife #animals #zoology #Mantellidae #rainforest #frog #diversity #peerreview #vertebrate #highthroughputsequencing #illumina #radaka #Malagasy #Sahona https://www.instagram.com/p/B_2LtWGgGyv/?igshid=ozlvb95cl13c