Bioacoustics of Boophis spinophis

Description of the holotype . Adult male, SVL 56.5 mm . Body moderately slender; head approximately as long as wide, slightly wider than body; snout rounded in dorsal and lateral view, nostrils directed laterally, slightly nearer to tip of snout than to eye; canthus rostralis moderately sharp in cross section, but comparatively indistinct, slightly concave in dorsal view, loreal region slightly concave; tympanum distinct, rounded, TD 41% of ED; supratympanic fold thin, distinct; vomerine odontophores distinct, well separated in two elongated patches, positioned posteromedial to choanae; choanae medium-sized, elongated. Tongue posteriorly bifid, free. Arms slender; distal subarticular tubercles of fingers 1, 3 and 4 bifid, round; metacarpal tubercles not recognizable; fingers scarcely webbed, with lateral dermal fringes; webbing formula 1(1), 2i(2), 2e(1.25), 3i(2), 3e(1.5), 4(1.5); relative length of fingers 1<2<4<3 (finger 2 distinctly shorter than finger 4); finger discs enlarged. Hindlimbs slender; tibiotarsal articulation reaching nostril when hindlimb is adpressed along body; lateral metatarsalia separated by webbing; inner metatarsal tubercle small, distinct, elongated; no outer metatarsal tubercle; toes broadly webbed; webbing formula 1(0), 2i(0.25), 2e(0), 3i(0.5), 3e(0), 4i(0.75), 4e(0.75), 5(0); relative length of toes 1<2<5=3<4; toe discs enlarged. Dorsal skin smooth with small warts, smooth on throat and chest, granular on belly and ventral surfaces of thighs. Heel, lateral parts of tarsus, external finger and elbow region were covered with distinct dermal tubercles in life, which however are poorly recognizable in preservative. A tissue sample was removed from the right thigh. Measurements (in mm): SVL 56.5, HW 20.0, HL 20.1, ED 6.8, END 4.4, NSD 4.7, NND 6.8, TD 6.8, TL 29.9, HAL 18.7, FOL 26.5, FOTL 42.9. After almost four years in preservative, ground colour of upper surface of head and dorsum brown with irregular darker blotches and small cream spots. Ground colour of ventral surfaces uniformly creamy yellow. In life, dorsal surfaces of head, body and limbs pale brown with pale green dots and larger, darker brown circular blotches with pale green inside. A whitish subocular bar between upper jaw, tympanum and eye. Iris golden with brown markings, more densely arranged at the edges of iris; upper eye periphery blue ( Fig. 13 ). Natural history. Largely unknown. The single known specimen was collected at night along a stream next to Ambatolahy, in disturbed rainforest, perched on the vegetation and not emitting any call. Molecular relationships. This species turned out to be phylogenetically highly divergent from all other species in the B. goudoti group, with pairwise distances>9% to all species. Phylogenies based on additional mitochondrial genes (not shown here) confirm, however, that B. spinophis belongs indeed into this group. The sequence of the holotype and single specimen from Ambatolahy clusters with high support together with a sequence that refers to a juvenile specimen from Ambohitantely (ZSM 118/2005, not studied here). The divergence between these two sequences is quite high (3.5%), indicating that these two geographically distant populations are possibly not conspecific.