Endemic Species of Madagascar

Madagascar’s endemic-species data are distributed across taxon-specific catalogues rather than one synchronized all-taxa checklist. The figures below keep each dataset’s geographic, taxonomic and temporal scope intact instead of adding incompatible counts.

The 2022 profile reports 208 palm species and 204 endemics; within that same dataset, the remaining four species form the non-endemic portion of the palm total. ^[S2]

{
  "type": "donut",
  "title": "Palm species by endemic status",
  "description": "Species counts from the same Madagascar palm dataset in the 2022 ecosystem profile.",
  "unit": "species",
  "data": [
    {
      "label": "Endemic",
      "value": 204
    },
    {
      "label": "Other",
      "value": 4
    }
  ],
  "source": "[S2]"
}

Dataset boundaries behind the numbers

The current Madagascar Catalogue states 11,580 native vascular plant species and 9,329 endemic species. The same page still prints “82%” beside the endemic count, although that displayed percentage is not arithmetically consistent with the current numerator and denominator. The table therefore uses the two published counts without propagating the percentage. ^[S1]

Mammal figures also belong to different treatments. The 2022 ecosystem profile reports 231 known native mammal species, 221 endemic. The current Mammal Diversity Database country page instead lists 246 living and six extinct species and explicitly excludes widespread and domesticated species. Those two inventories are not used to calculate a new mammal endemism rate. ^{[S2] [S3]}

Reptile coverage illustrates the same version problem. The 2022 profile cites an approximately 420-species treatment from 2018 with 98% endemism, while the live Reptile Database distribution query now returns 473 species associated with Madagascar. Multiplying the older percentage by the newer species count would mix taxonomic versions, so no derived current reptile-endemic total is presented. ^{[S2] [S6]}

Endemism above species rank

Species counts do not capture all of Madagascar’s phylogenetic concentration. The 2022 profile documents endemic families and genera separately; these higher-rank figures are kept outside species totals. ^[S2]

Mammal order benchmark from the 2022 profile

CEPF Table 7 publishes order-level endemism rates using the mammal treatment available to the 2022 profile. Its surrounding text describes the 109 primate entries as “species and subspecies,” while the table column is labeled “species.” The percentage series below is retained as a dated profile benchmark rather than treated as a current species-rank census. ^[S2]

{
  "type": "bar",
  "title": "Mammal order endemism rates in CEPF Table 7",
  "description": "Published percentage values from the 2022 ecosystem profile; these are retained as a dated benchmark.",
  "unit": "%",
  "orientation": "horizontal",
  "min": 0,
  "max": 100,
  "data": [
    {
      "label": "Rodentia",
      "value": 100
    },
    {
      "label": "Afrosoricida",
      "value": 100
    },
    {
      "label": "Primates",
      "value": 100
    },
    {
      "label": "Carnivora",
      "value": 100
    },
    {
      "label": "Chiroptera",
      "value": 80
    }
  ],
  "source": "[S2]"
}

Verified species-level checklist

Endemic birds: 110 species

Avibase’s Madagascar checklist follows Clements version 2025 and reports 110 endemics. Its row-level display explicitly marks 109 species “Endemic”; Xanthomixis cinereiceps lacks that row flag on the national page, while eBird identifies the species as a Madagascar endemic. The 110-row list below therefore combines the 109 explicit Avibase endemic rows with that independently supported species. The two extinct species in the set are Coua delalandei and Tachybaptus rufolavatus. ^{[S4] [S7]}

FishBase endemic fishes: 84 species

FishBase’s current Madagascar endemic filter returns 84 species, all listed as currently present. The list is reproduced at species rank without relabeling it as a freshwater-only dataset. ^[S5]

Mantella frogs: 16 species

Amphibian Species of the World currently recognizes 16 species in Mantella and gives the genus distribution as Madagascar. This produces a complete current genus-level endemic subset without relying on the older 2018 national amphibian count. ^[S8]

Brookesia chameleons: 32 species

The Reptile Database currently recognizes 32 Brookesia species. Peer-reviewed biogeographic treatment identifies Brookesia as a genus endemic to Madagascar; the older paper contained fewer named species because subsequent taxonomic work expanded the genus. ^{[S9] [S10]}

Uroplatus leaf-tailed geckos: 22 species

The Reptile Database currently recognizes 22 Uroplatus species. Peer-reviewed work identifies the genus as endemic to Madagascar; the historical paper’s smaller species count reflects the taxonomy available at that time, so the current membership comes from the live Reptile Database query. ^{[S11] [S12]}

Taxonomic change is still altering the inventory

Amphibian Species of the World’s 2026 change log records nine newly named Madagascan Mantidactylus species on 3 June 2026 and the addition of Boophis samuelsabini on 20 April 2026. These changes show why an older national percentage should not be converted into a present-day species count without rebuilding the underlying checklist. ^[S13]

Two 2026 species accounts also illustrate range concentration within the island. Boophis samuelsabini is listed as endemic to Madagascar and known only from its type locality in Ivohiboro Protected Area at 1,200 m. ^[S14] Mantidactylus ventrilineatus is endemic to Madagascar and documented from Ranomafana, Antoetra, Vevembe, Befotaka-Midongy, Vondrozo and Tolongoina, with a reliably known elevation range of 590–1,020 m. ^[S15]

Why the plant checklist is not dumped into this page

The plant dataset is orders of magnitude larger than the animal subsets above. The current Madagascar Catalogue records 9,329 endemic vascular plant species and also notes about 950 unpublished new species identified in a 2017 genus review, all treated there as endemic, with some since formally published. The same catalogue projects a flora of at least 14,900 species. A single-page table containing thousands of plant rows would obscure rather than improve the country profile; the live catalogue remains the species-resolution data source for that inventory. ^[S1]

The 2022 ecosystem profile also documents 2,904 endemic tree species among 3,118 trees and 204 endemic palms among 208 palm species. Those are source-defined botanical subsets and are not added to the 9,329 vascular-plant figure because they are contained within broader plant coverage. ^[S2]