Rio Santiago poison frog

Excidobates captivus is one of two previously known species of the genus Excidobates and belongs to the family of the poison dart frog ( Dendrobatidae ).

Features

Excidobates captivus is one of the smallest known poison dart frog with 15 to 17 mm snout-vent length. Your body is black and has reddish- orange dots and spots, each of which extends in a row on either side of the back. Above the armpits and in the groin are more yellow spots. The underside is black and bears irregular pale yellow spots. These are usually found on the throat and under the arms, and occasionally on the belly. The first finger is shorter than the second, but well developed. The frog secretes toxins through the skin glands, which is why he must be counted among the weak toxic poison dart frogs

The tadpoles are colored pale gray and have an elliptically shaped body.

Occurrence

The species has so far been detected in only two places in the north- western Peru Cordillera del Condor in the valley between and Cerros de Campanquis: At the mouth of the Rio Santiago and 130 kilometers south-west in the Cordillera del Condor. Probably the species is also present in southern Ecuador, but this is not yet sufficiently researched.

Way of life

The animals live primarily on the ground. The parents carry their larvae to bromeliads plants, and form water accumulations between their leaves. The mating call of the male consists of a short " schriek " which is repeated irregularly for several minutes. Males call from hidden places, such as from leaf axils.

System

The species was discovered in 1924, but only identified as a separate species in 1982 and first described by Myers based on a single specimen preserved as a museum Dendrobates captivus. At the same time describing the Myers syntopically occurring sister species Dendrobates mysteriosus. Both types he presented in 1990 in the so-called Dendrobates captivus group. While it is a poison dart frog with recent relatively well-studied biology at Dendrobates mysteriosus, came the last detection of Dendrobates captivus from the year 1929. Recently as 2008, the re-discovery was made in the area of ​​the type locality. Twomey & Brown, the two re-discoverer, due to the Genus recognized monophyly presented Excidobates on with the two sister species E. captivus and E. mysteriosus. You should be most closely related to the genus Ranitomeya.

Endangering

Due to insufficient data available, the risk situation of the species can not currently be assessed ( IUCN Status: DD).

Swell

  • CITES (2005) Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Online version: 11:08:05. Electronic Database
  • Grant, T., Frost, DR, Caldwell, JP, Gagliardo, R., Haddad, CFB, Kok, PJR, Means, DB, Noonan, BP, Schargel, WE & Wheeler WC (2006): Phylogenetic systematics of dart - poison frogs and Their relatives ( Amphibia, Athesphatanura, Dendrobatidae ). Bulletin of the Am.Mus.Nat.Hist. 299
  • Myers, CW ( 1982): Spotted Poison Frogs: Descriptions of Three New Dendrobates from western Amazonia, and Resurrection of a Lost Species from Chiriqui. Am. Mus. Nov. 2721: 1-23.
  • Schulte, R. ( 1999): poison dart frogs - part types Peru. Nikola Verlag, Stuttgart.
  • Twomey, E. & JL Brown ( 2008): Spotted Poison Frogs: Rediscovery of a Lost Species and a New Genus ( Anura: Dendrobatidae ) from Northwestern Peru. Herpetologica 64 (1): 121-137.
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