Phantasmal poison frog

Three stripes poison frog ( Epipedobates tricolor)

The three stripes poison frog ( Epipedobates tricolor), also Tricolor poison frog, is an indigenous to Ecuador Froschlurch from the family of poison dart frog ( Dendrobatidae, also: poison dart frogs).

Features

The adult frogs have a head-body length of 22 to 22.5 millimeters in females or 20 to 20.5 millimeters in males. They have three pale to lemon yellow stripes on dark brown to black in color and bright red signal spots, among other things on the upper arm approach and on the inside of the lower leg. The animals can reach an age of 10 to 15 years.

Way of life

Active during the day, mostly living on the forest floor and in low vegetation frogs feed on small insects such as springtails, small beetles and ants. Males call quite noisy - the "quality " of their calls is for the females an important criterion when selecting a partner.

The males are territorial, but may need to occupy every morning anew a territory. When a male enters the territory of a rival, it may lead to aggression.

The eggs are about 2 mm in diameter and are laid in fall foliage. The hatching larvae are then carried by the males to running or standing water.

Distribution, threats and conservation

From Epipedobates tricolor only seven populations along streams are known at altitudes 1000-1769 meters in the Ecuadorian province of Bolívar. Due to habitat loss and possibly also by pesticides, fishing by collectors as well as for medical purposes and by the fungal disease chytridiomycosis, the species is considered endangered ( IUCN Endangered ). It is a protected species (Wa 2, EC Regulation B).

System

Epipedobates tricolor is the type species of the genus; important synonyms are Phyllobates tricolor and Dendrobates tricolor. In the 1970s it came anthonyi to a confusion of type material of Epipedobates why the two species were occasionally interchanged in the sequence together.

The species is part of the " West - Andean clade " of the genus Epipedobates that separated by the uplift of the Andes from the Amazonian clade before around 10 million years ago.

Swell

• Three stripes poison frog on dendrobase.de
• Epipedobates tricolor on the Red List of Threatened Species IUCN 2008 Posted by: .. Luis A. Coloma, 2004, Accessed January 19, 2009