Description

An arboreal species of Platypelis featured by the following combination of characters: (medium adult body size (SVL 35 mm), colouration shading to yellow, with extended brownish marblings, digital expansions quite triangular in the hands and ovoidal on the feet, vestigial webbing between the toes, dorsal surface from smooth to slightly warty (Glaw and Vences 1994).

Head as long as wide; HW 34-40% of SVL; HL 33-35% SVL; snout short, slightly protruding beyond margin of lip; rounded in dorsal view (from the profile a lightly truncated); END less than ED; END 23-30% of HL; eye moderate in size; ED 34-42% of HL. Top of head quite flat; cranial crests absent; canthus rostralis indistinct; internarial area not depressed; nostrils protruding dorsally and laterally at a point above margin of lower jaw. Supratympanic fold visible, tympanum round, TD 41-47% of ED. Choanae small, round, and separated. Vomerine teeth present and posterior to choanae. Tongue trapezoid in shape with rounded edges, widest at the free margin, with a slight frontal notch. Vocal sac moderate in size, single, and in gular position. Skin on dorsum of head, body, and limbs quite smooth, although in some specimens elongated warts are visible. Ventral surfaces smooth. Cloacal opening elliptical. Forearm broad, fingers moderate in length bearing subtriangular, quite large sized discs; disc on first digit smaller than others: 1<2=4<3; subarticular tubercles faint, circular; supernumerary tubercles absent; palmar tubercle semi-distinct, not elevated. No webbing between digits of hands. Feet with semi-distinct supernumerary tubercles. Small pads on digits of feet, ovoidal in shape. Vestigial webbing between 3rd and 4th, and between 4th and 5th toes. Toe length: 1<2<5<3<4 (Glaw and Vences 1994).

After six years in preservative solution, the dorsum of this Platypelis has become typically light brownish, with scattered lighter spots and vermiculations. The legs have more or less the same colouration of the back, with some pigmented transverse areas or spots. The expansions of the hands and feet are brownish-blackish. Pupil horizontal, iris yellowish with dark punctuations. Ventrally cream-yellowish with some faint dark marbling, a little bit more visible on the throat. In life (Fig. 1), the colouration is similar in pattern, although more distinct. The yellow is conspicuously bright in live animals, and disappeared after permanence in formol and/or ethanol. The type series consists of four specimens from Ambolokopatrika. These specimens are quite similar to the holotype in terms of morphology, and size (Glaw and Vences 1994).

Similar species: Several other species of Platypelis have a reddish or yellowish venter, but the uniformly yellow ventral side in P. mavomavo seems to be diagnostic (Glaw and Vences 2007).

Taken with permission from Glaw and Vences (1994, 2007) and Andreone (2008).