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Individual and Geographic Variation of Skin Alkaloids in Three Swamp-Forest Species of Madagascan Poison Frogs (Mantella)

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Abstract

Seventy skins of three mantellid frog species from Madagascan swamp-forest habitats, Mantella aurantiaca, M. crocea, and M. milotympanum, were individually examined for skin alkaloids using GC/MS. These poison frogs were found to differ significantly in their alkaloid composition from species of Mantella originating from non-flooded rainforest in eastern Madagascar, which were examined in earlier work. Only 16 of the previously detected 106 alkaloids were represented among the 60 alkaloids from the swamp-forest frogs of the present study. We hypothesize this difference is related mainly to habitat but cannot exclude a phylogenetic component as the three swamp-forest species are a closely related monophyletic group. The paucity of alkaloids with unbranched-carbon skeletons (ant-derived) and the commonness of alkaloids with branched-carbon skeletons (mite-derived) indicate that oribatid mites are a major source of alkaloids in these species of mantellids. Furthermore, most of the alkaloids have an oxygen atom in their formulae. Differences in alkaloids were observed among species, populations of the same species, and habitats. In M. aurantiaca, small geographic distances among populations were associated with differences in alkaloid profiles, with a remote third site illustrating even greater differences. The present study and an earlier study of three other mantellid species suggest that oribatid mites, and not ants, are the major source of alkaloids in the species of mantellids examined thus far.

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Acknowledgments

Research in Madagascar was made possible by collaboration with the Département de Biologie Animale, Université d’Antananarivo, and research and export permits (CITES export permits # 1100-EAL/MG01/CWO from 19 December 2001 and 070C to 074C-EA02/MG05 from 18 Feb 2005) kindly issued by the Malagasy authorities. The Volkswagen Foundation, Biopat, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft supported fieldwork of M.V. and D.R.V. The work at NIH was supported by intramural funds of NIDDK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry, NIDDK, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Nirina R. Andriamaharavo, H. Martin Garraffo & Thomas F. Spande

  2. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA

    Lesley-Ann Giddings

  3. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    David R. Vieites

  4. Division of Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute, Technical University of Braunschweig, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany

    Miguel Vences

  5. Department of Biology, John Carroll University, University Heights, OH, 44118, USA

    Ralph A. Saporito

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  1. Nirina R. Andriamaharavo
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  2. H. Martin Garraffo
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  3. Thomas F. Spande
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  4. Lesley-Ann Giddings
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  5. David R. Vieites
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  7. Ralph A. Saporito
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Correspondence to Ralph A. Saporito.

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Andriamaharavo, N.R., Garraffo, H.M., Spande, T.F. et al. Individual and Geographic Variation of Skin Alkaloids in Three Swamp-Forest Species of Madagascan Poison Frogs (Mantella). J Chem Ecol 41, 837–847 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-015-0616-4

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