Gephyromantis luteus
—
White Madagascar Frog


This frog was at least five feet above the ground, poised on a leaf, possibly waiting for the spider at the upper right of the first photo to move into a more lunge-worthy position. The angular ridges on the shoulders help identify this species as M. luteus.

The Authority does not show this frog in the Andasibe area. Instead it shows Gephyromantis sculpturatus, a frog that basically looks the same but is found at higher elevation than Gephyromantis luteus. But this information is no longer current; in 2021 Gephyromantis sculpturatus was synonymized with Gephyromantis plicifer, and Gephyromantis plicifer was redefined to be restricted to a few locales, and almost all of the frogs that look like this from other places were put back into Gephyromantis luteus. Ask me again next week.
Here is a list of all the reptiles and frogs I saw on this 2023 trip to Madagascar.
Online references:
- Gephyromantis luteus account on AmphibiaWeb
- Gephyromantis luteus account on Amphibian Species of the World
- Miguel Vences, Jörn Köhler, Franco Andreone, Ann-Kristin Craul, Angelica Crottini, Louis du Preez, Michaela Preick, Lois Rancilhac, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Mark D. Scherz, Jeffrey W. Streicher, Michael Hofreiter & Frank GlawTarget-enriched DNA sequencing clarifies the identity of name-bearing types of the Gephyromantis plicifer complex and reveals a new species of mantellid frog from Madagascar
Printed references:
- Glaw, F., Vences, M. 1994. A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, Second Edition
- Glaw, F., Vences, M. 2007. A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, Third Edition
- Henkel, F., Schmidt, W. 2000. Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar and the Mascarene, Seychelles, and Comoro Islands