A poison dart frog or arrow frog is a widespread name peculiar to frogs belonging to the family Dendrobatidae, native to South America and the tropics of Central America.
These species of frogs are usually active during the day (diurnal), usually displaying bright coloration on their bodies.
The bright coloration of these species corresponds with their toxicity, making them aposematic.
Some of the Dendrobatidae species of dart-poison frog exhibit coloration to a great degree, and this high level of coloration corresponds to high toxicity; others exhibit cryptic coloration with little or no toxicity.
Scientific Classification
- Scientific Name: Dendrobatidae
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Amphibia
- Order: Anura
- Clade: Hyloidea
- Superfamily: Dendrobatidae
- Family: Dendrobatidae, Cope, 1865
Description
Usually, several species of dart frogs are minute, measuring less than 0.59 inches in adult length. Only a relatively small group develops up to 2.4 inches in measurement. On average, poison dart frogs weigh 1 oz.
Most of these poison dart frogs use their bright coloration to exhibit aposematic patterns to ward off predators. The level of alkaloids and toxicity of poison dart frogs is usually associated with their bright coloration.
Poison dart frogs are fitting examples of organisms that are aposematic. According to phylogenetic trees, aposematism is believed to have originated within the poison dart frog’s family at least four times. As such, dendrobatidae frogs have undergone dramatic changes (both intraspecific and interspecific) in their aposematic coloration.
Adult dart frogs usually lay eggs in damp places, including plants, leaves, etc. As soon as the eggs are hatched, the adult carries the tadpoles on its back, one after the other, to a suitable body of water. The tadpoles are now left to remain there until they are metamorphosed.
Habitat
Poison dart frogs are usually found in humid and tropical environments of South and Central America. They are also found generally in tropical rainforests, including Colombia, Brazil, Suriname, Ecuador, Bolivia, French Guiana, Panama, Guyana, etc.
Natural habitats of poison dart frogs are comprised of tropical and subtropical, humid, tropical and subtropical high-altitude shrubs, lowland forests, subtropical or tropical lakes, and swamps. Other species of poison dart frog
Other species occur in seasonally humid or flooded lowland meadows, farmland, pastureland, rural gardens, plantations, humid savannas, and severely degraded former forests. Pre-mountainous forests and rocky areas are also known to house frogs.
Dendrobatids usually live on or near the ground and in trees up to 10 m above the ground.
Reproduction
Most poison dart frog species in the genera Ranitomenya and Oophaga piggyback freshly hatched tadpoles into the cover. The tadpoles, on the other hand, glue to the mucus on the back of their parents.
The parents dispatch their progeny in water to accumulate in epiphytic plants like bromeliads. The tadpoles depend on invertebrates as their main food source in their nursery, and their mothers further lay eggs in the water to supplement their diet.
The fertilization of eggs in poison dart frogs is carried out externally. Here, the female lays a clump of eggs, and after that, the male fertilizes the egg just as it is done in most fish.
Similar to the way most frogs mate, Poison dart frogs are usually seen as Clinching to each other. Nevertheless, these displays are referred to as territorial wrestling matches.
Females and males are constantly involved in disputes over territory. The males usually wrestle to conquer the most prominent roosts where they can carry out their mating calls. At the same time, the females fight over the prominent best, even going to the extent of raiding and taking over the best of other females and almost consuming the competitor’s eggs.
Toxicity
Most poison dart frogs release lipophilic alkaloid toxins like allopumiliotoxin 267A, histrionic toxin, pumiliotoxin 251D, batrachotoxin, and epibatidine, via their skin.
The alkaloids in the skin glands of poison dart frogs act as a chemical defense fluid against threat and predation and, hence, can be active in conjunction with prospective predators during the daytime.
The species of poison dart frog that are very toxic are known as phyllobatew terribilis.
