Mante frog: colorful little "poisonous creature"

Cowan's Mantella, scientific name Mantella cowanii, is a colorful and poisonous species endemic to Madagascar.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Mantellidae
Genus: Mantella

Image source: IUCN Mante frogs inhabit three areas of the central and eastern highlands of Madagascar: Antakasina, Antoetra and Itremo. They are a terrestrial species that live on forest edges, vegetation belts beside streams, near mountain grasslands and wet stone walls. During the dry season, they live in underground burrows, where they can hide during fires. Like other Mante frogs, its eggs are laid on the ground and the young frogs develop in streams. So far, there are no data on tadpole morphology.

Image source: IUCN The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species lists it as endangered.

Image source: IUCN The Manta frog faces threats from the international pet trade and overharvesting, which has led to population declines. Remaining habitat is being lost due to subsistence agriculture, timber extraction and charcoal production, fires, wetland drainage and expansion of human settlements.

The Mante frog is listed in Appendix II of the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and international trade in this species is not allowed.

Image source: Species+ The Manta frog was listed in the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations in 1997.

Image source: Species+ The Fohisokina Reserve has had provisional protected status since 2010 through the transfer of management to the community-based FOMISAME. Continued enforcement of the protected area is essential to maintain critical habitat for this species. Site management strategies need to be developed to reduce the impact of bushfires within the reserve. Research is needed to better understand its life history, population trends, and current threats. Surveys are needed to determine where other remnant subpopulations survive and how they can be better protected.

Reference: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/57441/60797066

https://speciesplus.net/species#/taxon_concepts/3379/legal

To help build ecological civilization and thoroughly implement the "Implementation Plan for the National Science Literacy Action Plan (2021-2035)" and the "China Association for Science and Technology Science Popularization Development Plan (2021-2025)", as a national first-level society in the field of biodiversity, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation will leverage the advantages of scientific research institutions and is committed to creating a socialized science communication work with comprehensive mobilization and participation by all people. In December 2021, it launched the "Green Association Biodiversity Science Popularization Mini Classroom" series.

The "Green Association's Biodiversity Science Popularization Classroom" is characterized by "popular science". It disseminates knowledge about wild animal and plant species and biodiversity that are currently threatened with survival, promotes the mainstreaming of biodiversity, and calls on all sectors to work together to protect biodiversity, protect the habitats on which human beings depend for survival, and build a beautiful home where people and nature live in harmony.

Text/YJ Review/Stan