Tuesday 21 May
In the News: First crane egg in the western UK in four centuries
Blue-legged mantella (Mantella expectata)
Blue-legged mantella fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Blue-legged mantella description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Amphibia |
| Order | Anura |
| Family | Mantellidae |
| Genus | Mantella (1) |
With a greenish-yellow back contrasting with dark blue hind legs and black sides, the blue-legged mantella is a popular frog in the pet trade. Males are a little smaller than females and have an obvious horseshoe-shaped blue spot on the lower throat. Both sexes have a light stripe along the upper lip. Colours can vary between individuals, but the more highly contrasting individuals are most likely to be collected for the pet trade (1).
More »
Top
Related species
Blue-legged mantella biology
Active during the first hours after dawn, the blue-legged mantella is most easily observed from October to December during the rainfalls that stimulate egg-laying. Males call continuously to attract females, who then emerge from their refuges to lay two to six clutches of over 35 eggs each (2) (3).
TopBlue-legged mantella range
Endemic to Madagascar, the blue-legged mantella is found in the south-western region of the island, Isalo, at elevations of over 800 m above sea level (1).
More »
Top
Species with a similar range
Blue-legged mantella habitat
Inhabits small, temporary streams and small pools, as well as open canyons and rocks near water. The tadpoles and young adults are found in temporary pools (3).
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Blue-legged mantella status
The blue-legged mantella is classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List (1) and is listed on Appendix II of CITES (4).
Blue-legged mantella threats
Several thousand blue-legged mantellas are thought to be collected every year from some regions in the Isalo Massif(3). Aside from over-collection, the extremely small range of these critically endangered frogs is threatened with habitat loss as a result of grazing, fires and sapphire mining operations (1).
TopBlue-legged mantella conservation
Listing on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species provides the blue-legged mantella with some protection. It requires that an export licence is obtained for any trade in this species. A trade quota to prevent over-exploitation of this frog is crucial to its survival, as even the protection offered by the Isalo National Park has not prevented the capture of the blue-legged mantella (1). Anyhow, recent research showed that the species is still locally abundant (5).
|
View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. |
Find out more
For further information on this species see:
-
AmphibiaWeb:
http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi-bin/amphib_query?query_src=aw_lists_alpha_&where-genus=Mantella&where-species=expectata
Authentication
Authenticated (07/02/2005) by Franco Andreone, Chair of DAPT/IUCN Madagascar.
TopGlossary
- Endemic
- A species or taxonomic group that is only found in one particular country or geographic area.
References
-
IUCN Red List (June, 2010)
http://www.redlist.org -
The Mantella FAQ (December, 2004)
http://www.amphibian.co.uk/ -
AmphibiaWeb (June 2010)
http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi-bin/amphib_query?query_src=aw_lists_alpha_&where-genus=Mantella&where-species=expectata -
CITES (December, 2004)
http://www.cites.org - Andreone, F. (2005) Pers. comm.
More »Related species
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Blue-legged mantella on moss
© Franco Andreone
Franco Andreone
Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali
Via Giolitti 36
Torino
I-10123
Italy
f.andreone@libero.it
http://www.francoandreone.it
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.