# Frogs & Toads > Tomato Frogs, Painted Frogs & Microhylids >  Malagasy Rainbow Burrowing Frogs (Scaphiophyrne gottlebei)

## Joshua Ralph

Hey everyone!  :Smile:  

Here are perhaps the most endangered and rarest species within my  collection, one that I was waiting for for a year before I could find  even a few! lol 




> Malagasy Rainbow Burrowing Frog
> Nomenclature: Scaphiophryne gottlebei
> IUCN Red List: Endangered
> Country of Origin: South-western Madagascar.
> 
> Information: This is 1 of 8 species of the Scaphiophryne or also known   as the Malagasy Rain Frog genus (members of the Microhylidae family)   originating from a severely fragmented, distribution range in Madagascar   and like the rest of the genus, it hasn't successfully or widely been   bred in captivity. This lack of captive breeding is mainly due to  little  to no knowledge about reproductive and breeding behaviours in  the wild.
> 
> They are believed to be one of the rarest and most beautiful species of   Anura in the world, making it definitely the most sort after within the   Pet Trade. Like their common name suggests, the main characteristic   behaviour is to only come out of burrowing during the wet and rainy   seasons, giving it the ability to remain in areas and periods of drought   for months.
> 
> © 2013 (These are copyrighted photographs, please ask permission before using)






I shall get more photos of them for you all to look at  :Smile:  

Thank you for reading and looking! 


© 2013 - These are my own photographs so please don't use them without my permission.

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## Carlos

Beautiful frogs, congrats  :Big Applause:  !

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MantellaGuy

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## Joshua Ralph

Thank you very much  :Smile:  I am trying to find more but it's no where near an easy task! lol

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## Soazara

Hi,
I am from Madagascar and work on rainbow frogs and blue legged mantella. Do you have information that we can use for the conservation of these species?
Thank you

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## Ryan

Beautiful frogs!  :Big Grin:  Do you have intentions of breeding them?

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## Terry

> Hi,
> I am from Madagascar and work on rainbow frogs and blue legged mantella. Do you have information that we can use for the conservation of these species?
> Thank you


Hi and welcome to Frog Forum  :Smile: 
I worked at a zoo that had a close relationship with wildlife groups in Madagascar. I was an amphibian keeper for a while and also worked with rainbow frogs, mantellas and reed frogs (_Heterixalus_ sp.) If you can PM me the particulars, I may be able to help you or find someone who can.

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## Joshua Ralph

Wow, I haven't been on for a while and wasn't expecting this many posts on my Thread!!  :Big Grin:  haha




> Hi,
> I am from Madagascar and work on rainbow frogs and blue legged mantella.  Do you have information that we can use for the conservation of these  species?
> Thank you


Hi there, 

Well I wouldn't mind having a chat about either species if I am honest, I am planning on going out to Madagascar for a Research Trip in the next 2 years so would be great to be able to have some dealings with the people striving to Conserve these fascinating animals  :Smile: 




> Hi and welcome to Frog Forum 
> I worked at a zoo that had a close relationship with wildlife groups in Madagascar. I was an amphibian keeper for a while and also worked with rainbow frogs, mantellas and reed frogs (_Heterixalus_ sp.) If you can PM me the particulars, I may be able to help you or find someone who can.


These would be handy for me also as I am doing a lot of research into the Mantella and Scaphiophyrne genus and breed many of the species within Mantella.  :Smile:

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## Joshua Ralph

> Beautiful frogs!  Do you have intentions of breeding them?


Thank you Ryan  :Smile:  

I would ideally like to breed this species and help out Zoological Collections trying to conserve this species but, the species _S.gottlebei_ has not been bred before via Natural methods so I doubt I would be able to. With little to no decent knowledge on breeding in the wild, it's incredibly had to perform... Mine are currently in their Dry/Arid Preparation Period.

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## Soazara

Hi, 

It is quite difficult to breed rainbow frogs in captivity (as I know, there is no person who has enable to reproduce them!!!!). However, we intend to work on this topic with local people of Isalo with species outside the park if we gather scientific data and have some financial support. It is why I search information from all of you.

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## Soazara

This species have life like Sc marmorata but it is in dry habitat. The life history is not well know (I have some publication about them) but I am very interesting on their captive breeding. I am afraid that they will disappear in few years (you do not see the bush fire here!!!!!) and actually I think that the climate change will have effects on this species (last year, their is no rain until the haruna cyclone (in the last of february) however, before, it is in the mid of October or November). Bref, if you know someone who works on this marmorata species, may be we could combine these informations !!!!

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