''Rheobates'' is a genus of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

s in the family

Aromobatidae The Aromobatidae are a family of frogs native to Central and South America. They are sometimes referred to as cryptic forest frogs or cryptic poison frogs. They are the sister taxon of the Dendrobatidae, the poison dart frogs, but are not as tox ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Colombia. These are cryptically coloured frogs with extensive toe webbing. The name ''Rheobates'' is derived from the Greek words ''rheo'' (stream, current) and βάτης ''bátēs'' (a walker), in reference to the riparian habitat of the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

'' Rheobates palmatus''. They are associated with streams in sub-Andean forests and foothills of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

at low to medium altitudes.

Species

There are currently two species: * '' Rheobates palmatus'' (Werner, 1899) * '' Rheobates pseudopalmatus'' (Rivero and Serna, 2000) The validity of ''Rheobates pseudopalmatus'' has been questioned, whereas ''Rheobates palmatus'' may represent a species complex.

References

Aromobatidae Amphibians of South America Amphibian genera Taxa named by Darrel Frost {{Aromobatidae-stub