Parental Care and Reproduction in Two Species of Mantidactylus (Anura: Mantellidae)

The rain-forest frogs Mantidactylus bicalcaratus and Mantidactylus punctatus have only been collected from Pandanus and other water-holding plants in Madagascar. In both species, eggs are laid on the surface of Pandanus leaves above water-filled leaf axils, where tadpoles develop. Although some egg masses (26%) were not attended, adults were often found straddling or directly adjacent to egg masses for up to eight days after oviposition. In both species, eggs were attended by either the male or the female parent but not both. This amphisexual egg attendance is known from only three other anurans and an antipredator function for it is hypothesized.