''Ameerega ingeri'', also known commonly as Niceforo's poison frog, Brother Niceforo's poison frog, or Inger's poison frog, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Dendrobatidae Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the Family (biology), family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central America, Central an ...

. The species 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 the Colombian Amazon. It is known with certainty only from its type locality in the

Caquetá Department Caquetá Department () is a department of Colombia. Located in the Amazonas region, Caquetá borders with the departments of Cauca and Huila to the west, the department of Meta to the north, the department of Guaviare to the northeast, th ...

. Records from the

Putumayo Department Putumayo () is a departments of Colombia, department of Southern Colombia. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Ecuador and Peru. Its capital is Mocoa. The word ''putumayo'' comes from the Quechua languages. The verb ''p'utuy'' ...

ascribed to this species likely refer to '' Ameerega bilinguis'', although other sources continue to include Putumayo in the range of ''Ameerega ingeri''.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''ingeri'' honors

Robert F. Inger Robert Frederick Inger (September 10, 1920 – April 12, 2019) was an American herpetologist. During his lifetime, he wrote numerous books and publications about herpetology. He was also the curator for amphibians and reptiles at the Field Museu ...

, an American zoologist from the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

. "Niceforo" in the common name refers to Brother Nicéforo María, a missionary and naturalist in Colombia, who collected the

type series In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes t ...

Description

The type series of ''A. ingeri'' consists of four specimens, the largest of which (the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

) measures in snout-to-vent length (SVL). The body is elongate. The eyes are large and prominent. The tympanum is small but distinct. The fingers are long and have relatively small discs and slight lateral fringes; no webbing is present. The toes are long and have slight basal webbing. The skin is

dorsally Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...

coarsely granular. The dorsum in preserved specimens is slate black, but the top of head is little lighter, and there are traces of a gray chevron mark in front of the eyes. The venter is slate black, with slight indications of a coarse, light reticulation on the belly.

Habitat and conservation

''Ameerega ingeri'' occurs in tropical rainforest at

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, or if more broadly defined, at . It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

—the area of the type locality is already deforested.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1348923 ingeri Amphibians of Colombia Endemic fauna of Colombia Amphibians described in 1970 Taxa named by Doris Mable Cochran Taxonomy articles created by Polbot