Abstract
Ranitomeya biolat occurs in the lowland rainforest of southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia and uses bamboo internodes as a retreat and reproduction site (Morales 1992; Maldonado & Reichle 2007). Unlike other members of the vanzolinii group, which exhibit biparental care of tadpoles (Summers & McKeon 2004), we have observed that R. biolat exhibits male–only parental care and that tadpoles are transported individually and deposited in water–filled bamboo internodes (Medina–Müller 2006; R. von May, unpublished data). After more than 12 months of sampling, we never observed individuals providing trophic eggs to tadpoles or observed oophagy as clutches were laid 3.5 ± 1.5 cm above the water (n = 55); hence, tadpole oophagy may not be an important food resource as previously suspected (Waldram 2008). Though basic information on its breeding biology has been published (Waldram 2008), its tadpole remains undescribed. With the purpose of filling this gap, we here describe the tadpole of R. biolat.
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