Phyllobates is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America. The genus contains seven known species, which are distributed from eastern Nicaragua to the Pacific coast of Colombia.
Phyllobates contains the most poisonous species of frog, the golden poison frog (P. terribilis). They are typical of the poison dart frogs, in that all species have bright warning coloration (aposematism), and have varying degrees of toxicity. Only species of Phyllobates are used by natives of South American tribes as sources of poison for their hunting darts. The most toxic of the many poisonous alkaloids these frogs contain (in glands in their skin) is batrachotoxin, alongside a wide variety of other toxic compounds. Some populations of Phyllobates lugubris in Central America are not known to be toxic.Daly, J.W. (1995). The chemistry of poisons in amphibian skin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 92: 9-13.
Taxonomy The genus name is derived from the Greek words φύλλον ("phyllon"; for "leaf") and βαίνω ("baino"; for "walk, step").Duméril & Bibron, 1841 Phyllobates used to contain many of the species which are now within the genera Ranitomeya and Andinobates. However, it now just contains seven member species within the Phyllobates bicolor and Phyllobates lugubris species groups. These are: Group Image Common name Scientific name Distribution P. bicolor species group Kokoe Poison FrogPhyllobates aurotaenia (Boulenger, 1913) Pacific coast of ColombiaPhyllobates bezosi (Amézquita et al., 2024) Pacific coast of Colombia Black-legged poison frogPhyllobates bicolor (Duméril and Bibron, 1841) Chocó area in western ColombiaPhyllobates samperi Amézquita et al., 2024 Pacific coast of Colombia Golden poison frogPhyllobates terribilis (Myers, Daly, and Malkin, 1978) Pacific coast of Colombia. P. lugubris species groupLovely poison frogPhyllobates lugubris (Schmidt, 1857) southeastern Nicaragua through Costa Rica to northwestern PanamaGolfodulcean poison frogPhyllobates vittatus (Cope, 1893) Costa Rica.
All these different species within the genus exhibit a diversity in color. Some examples are, P. terribilis, with color morphs of "mint", "yellow", and "orange". P. vittatus, another example, is always black as a ground color, but can show yellow stripes, orange stripes, red stripes,(stripes of all colors can be seen in two forms, narrow- and wide-banded) and turquoise, green, or blue legs, etc. The bicolor dart frog (Phyllobates bicolor) can range from yellow to orange, from black legs to green legs, to almost a uniform color of any of the aforementioned color morphs. P. aurotaenia specimens are yellow-banded or orange. They are always smaller than P. vittatus, and beyond locality, this is the best way to differentiate between the two in the field or in the hobby.
Source of toxin The toxic alkaloid batrachotoxin is only present in frogs found in the wild; after extended captivity, they lose their toxin, indicating that they acquire it (or metabolize it) from their natural diet; this alkaloid has been found in Papuan beetle species in the family Melyridae, and other related genera can be found in Colombia and other areas where Phyllobates are found.
See also Allopumiliotoxin 267A Pumiliotoxin 251D
References