Table of contents:
- Area
- Appearance
- Color
- The size
- Vote
- Habitat
- Nutrition / food
- Behavior
- Social structure
- Reproduction
- Season / period of breeding
- Puberty
- Courtship ritual
- Incubation
- Development
Video: Bronze Mantella (Mantella Betsileo)
2024 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:30
Bronze mantella, or brown mantella (Mantella betsileo) lives on about. Madagascar, where the climate is similar to the tropical. They can often be found outside the forest. Leads a terrestrial secretive lifestyle. Each mantella has its own small area, which it jealously guards from other frogs. Males often sit on higher ground and guard their territory. Reproduction does not take place in water. Tadpoles are herbivores, feeding on algae and detritus
Area
Central and northern Madagascar (up to 500 m above sea level).
Appearance
Sexual dimorphism is weak. The only way to determine sex is by singing in males. The upper half of the iris is golden. The middle ear is distinctly expressed (size 1/2 of the eye diameter). A light line runs along the upper lip. The belly is black, with blue spots on it (in some places). Hind feet are grayish with dark stripes. The back of the mantella is colored in shades from yellow-orange to red-brown.
Related article Bronze Mantella (Mantella betsileo)
Color
The juveniles of the Mantell are colored like the adults.
The size
Adult mantells grow up to 25-28 mm.
Vote
The male's song consists of a series of very short clicks. The duration of such a click is about 35 milliseconds. Frequency range from 4.8-6.2 KHz.
Habitat
The bronze mantella lives in the lowlands, where the climate is similar to the tropical one. It can often be found outside the forest (at the edges or at the pits on the outskirts of forest roads).
Nutrition / food
Bronze mantella eats mainly fruit flies, less often - ants. Observing one mantella, it was found that in half an hour the frog ate 53 ants! Opening the stomach of another mantella revealed an ant and more than 80 small beetles.
Behavior
Leads a terrestrial secretive lifestyle. The bronze mantella is active all day long. Each mantella has its own small area, which it jealously guards from other frogs. Males often sit on hills (rocks) and guard their territory. During the day, territorial behavior is less pronounced, since mantells hunt. The bronze mantella is wary, hiding most of the time. Before noon and after heavy rains, males sing actively.
Social structure
Bronze Mantells live in small groups. There are more males than females in a 2-1: 1 ratio.
Reproduction
Reproduction does not take place in water (eggs are not laid in water). After mating, the female looks for a suitable nesting place (it should be wet). This can be moss, sponge, crevices in logs, the back of stones or bark. One female mantella lays up to 20-100 eggs (2-3 mm in diameter). Spawning occurs at night. The rains wash the eggs out of the nests and transfer them to shallow stagnant bodies of water or puddles.
Season / period of breeding
Begins with the onset of the rainy season (November-March).
Puberty
Maturation occurs at 10-12 months.
Courtship ritual
Courtship takes place secretly, under bark or logs.
Incubation
Egg incubation lasts 2-6 days.
Development
Mantell tadpoles are herbivores, feeding on marine and detritus. Before metamorphosis, tadpoles grow up to 28-31 mm. Young frogs reach a length of 10-11 mm. After metamorphosis, the mantella begin to hunt insects (small aphids).
Comments: The bronze mantella is moderately poisonous. The poison is not dangerous to humans, but it can cause local irritation.
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