Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2009-12-02
Page range: 48–60
Abstract views: 32
PDF downloaded: 2

Another new species of Ranitomeya (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from Amazonian Colombia

Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville NC, U.S.A
Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville NC, U.S.A
Amphibia Anura Apaporis Caquetá Colombia Dendrobatidae new species poison frogs Ranitomeya defleri sp. nov. Ranitomeya ventrimaculata taxonomy

Abstract

We describe a new species of Ranitomeya (family Dendrobatidae) which we discovered on a recent expedition to the Río Apaporis region in southeastern Colombia. This species had previously been referred to as Dendrobates quinquevittatus sensu Silverstone, based on a single specimen collected in the 1950s from the mouth of Río Apaporis. We found additional specimens from two sites in this region; near the town of La Pedrera (Departamento Amazonas), and on the lower Apaporis (Departamento Vaupés). We also found several R. ventrimaculata, and the two species are likely sympatric throughout much of this region. Although the new species and R. ventrimaculata have similar life-history attributes (such as using similar bromeliads for tadpole deposition), the two species clearly differ in color pattern and advertisement call parameters. Ongoing molecular studies indicate that the new species is not closely related to the sympatric R. ventrimaculata, but rather is sister to an apparently undescribed species of Ranitomeya from the upper Brazilian Amazon.

References

  1. Brown, J.L., Schulte, R. & Summers, K. (2006) A new species of Dendrobates (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from the Amazonian lowlands in Perú. Zootaxa, 1152, 45–58.

    Brown, J.L., Twomey, E., Pepper, M. & Sanchez Rodriguez, M. (2008) Revision of the Ranitomeya fantastica species complex with description of two new species from Central Peru (Anura: Dendrobatidae). Zootaxa, 1823, 1–24.

    Caldwell, J.P. & Myers, C.W. (1990) A new poison frog from Amazonian Brazil, with further revision of the quinquevittatus group of Dendrobates. American Museum Novitates, 2988, 1–21.

    Charif, R.A., Clark, C.W. & Fristrup, K.M. (2004) Raven 1.2 User’s Manual. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, U.S.A, 205 pp.

    Defler, T.R. (1996). Aspects of the ranging pattern in a group of wild woolly monkeys (Lagothrix lagothricha). American Journal of Primatology, 38. 289–302.

    Defler, T.R. & Defler, S.B. (1996) Diet of a group of Lagothrix lagothricha lagothricha in Southeastern Colombia. International Journal of Primatology, 17, 161–190.

    Gosner, K.L. (1960) A simplified table for staging anuran embryos and larvae with notes on identification. Herpetologica, 16, 183–190.

    IUCN (2001) IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, 14 pp.

    Lötters, S., Jungfer, K.-H., Schmidt, W. & Henkel, F.W. (2007) Poison Frogs: Biology, Species and Captive Husbandry. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 667 pp.

    McDiarmid, R.W. & Altig, R. (1999) Tadpoles: The Biology of Anuran Larvae. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., 444 pp.

    Millikin, R.L. (2008) Caqueta moist forests In: Cutler, J.C. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Earth. Environmental Information Coalition, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. Available from http://www.eoearth.org/article/Caqueta_moist_forests (accessed 11 February 2009)

    Morales, V.R. (1992) Dos especies nuevas de Dendrobates (Anura: Dendrobatidae) para Perú. Caribbean Journal of Science, 28, 191–199.

    Myers, C.W. (1982) Spotted poison frogs: Descriptions of three new Dendrobates from western Amazonia, and resurrection of a lost species from "Chiriqui". American Museum Novitates, 2721, 1–23.

    Myers, C.W. & Daly, J.W. (1976) Preliminary evaluation of skin toxins and vocalizations in taxonomic and evolutionary studies of poison-dart frogs (Dendrobatidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 157, 173–262.

    Santos, J.C., Coloma, L.A., Summers, K., Caldwell, J.P., Ree, R. & Cannatella, D.C. (2009) Amazonian amphibian diversity is primarily derived from late Miocene Andean lineages. PLoS Biology, 7, 1–14.

    Schulte, R. (1999) Pfeilgiftfrösche “Artenteil – Peru”. INIBICO, Wailblingen, Germany, 294 pp.

    Silverstone, P.A. (1975) A revision of the poison-arrow frogs of the genus Dendrobates Wagler. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 21, 1–55.

    Wells, K.D. (2007) The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., 1400 pp.