Golden Mantella

The golden mantella is a tiny frog of 20–26mm that is uniformly yellow, orange or red, with red flash marks on the inner legs and a small but visible eardrum. The bright skin is thought to advertise that it is poisonous. The frogs derive their skin alkaloids from the ants, mites and other small prey they eat, a convergence with the poison dart frogs of Central and South America (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is active by day in summer and largely inactive from May to October. At the start of the rains the frogs emerge to breed in small wetlands, and the male calls with a repeated click from a concealed spot near water. Eggs are laid on land in moist leaf litter, and the tadpoles are washed into water when the rains arrive. Groups often have about twice as many males as females. At Torotorofotsy, a snake and a skink have been seen preying on it (Wikipedia; AmphiBIO, Oliveira et al. 2017).

It occurs in a very small area under heavy human pressure, and may also be threatened by collection for the pet trade. Torotorofotsy lies north-west of Andasibe, so the Andasibe-Mantadia area is the place to ask about it.