Chapter 13 The Kingdom of the Frogs: Anuran Radiations in Madagascar Philip-Sebastian Gehring, J€ orn K€ ohler, Axel Strauß, Roger D. Randrianiaina, Julian Glos, Frank Glaw, and Miguel Vences Abstract The island of Madagascar harbors one of the world’s most diverse amphibian faunas with an outstanding degree of 100% endemism at species level among the over 270 native species of frogs. The high research activity of recent years, together with the use of integrative taxonomic approaches, combining molecular genetics, comparative morphology, and bioacoustics, has led to the identification of many morphologically cryptic but evolutionarily highly divergent species of Malagasy frogs, leading to estimates of over 200 yet undescribed species. Ongoing phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies aim to understand the processes that might have generated this unique species diversity and microendemism. By now the larval stages of many Malagasy frogs are tremendously underexplored, although their relevance for the evolution, ecology, and conservation of animals with a biphasic lifestyle is apparent. Habitat destruction and fragmentation are the most important factors threatening amphibian diversity in Madagascar. P.-S. Gehring • A. Strauß • M. Vences (*) Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany e-mail: m.vences@tu-bs.de J. K€ ohler Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Friedensplatz 1, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany R.D. Randrianiaina Technical University of Braunschweig, Zoological Institute, Mendelssohnstr. 4, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany De ´partement de Biologie Animale, Universite ´ d’Antananarivo, BP 906 Antananarivo 101, Madagascar J. Glos Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation, University of Hamburg, 20146 Hamburg, Germany F. Glaw Zoologische Staatssammlung M€ unchen, M€ unchhausenstraße 21, 81247 M€ unchen, Germany F.E. Zachos and J.C. Habel (eds.), Biodiversity Hotspots, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-20992-5_13, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 235