''Andinobates dorisswansonae'', the dotted poison frog, is a species of

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

in the family

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 ...

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 ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

in the outskirts of Falan and north of the

department of Tolima Tolima () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the Andean region, in the center-west of the country. It is bordered on the north and the west by the department of Caldas; on the east by the department of Cundinamarca; on the ...

.Gallego Carvajal, Oscar; A. Quevedo Gil; V.F. Luna M. & W.E. Figueroa, 2008
''Falan Cuna de la Vida''
49. Municipio de Falan. It is toxic to humans.

Description

Its skin is bright black or dark brown with red, orange or yellow spots. It is distinguished in addition to other similar dendrobathids because it has the first and second toes fused, a characteristic that it shares only with a nearby species, '' Andinobates daleswansoni''. It has large, prominent eyes with horizontal elliptical pupils and climbing disks on its toes. Males measure between 16.2 and 17.1 mm in length and females between 17.5 and 19.4 mm. This frog has only four toes on each foot because the first and second toes are partially fused. Almost no other frogs have feet like this.

Behavior

It lives among the leaf litter, in

secondary forests A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused disturbances, such as timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or equivalently disruptive natura ...

with good canopy and presence of

bromeliads The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

, where it deposits its tadpoles, which it cares for and carries on the back to a water source. It feeds on insects, especially

ants Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

Taxonomy

It was discovered by Oscar Javier Gallego Carvajal of the University of Tolima in a fragment of secondary forest of the village of El Llano, in Falan. The description of the species was made together with José Vicente Rueda Almonacid, Marco Rada, Santiago J. Sánchez Pacheco and Alvaro Andrés Velásquez Alvarez, of Conservación Internacional Colombia and was published in ''Zootaxa'' in 2006.

Habitat

This frog has been observed in a single patch of

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

1780 meters above sea level. The trees grew densly and shaded most of the area. They grew thickly with

epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

s, moss, lichens, and fungi. This forest sees annual rainfall of 2,500–3,000 mm. The frog's range is within a protected park, Ranita Dorada Reserve. However, its habitat is surrounded by pastureland.

Threats

It is threatened by habitat loss (

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksfarming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

), hunting, and as a pet/display animal. This frog lives on the ground among the

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...

and in

bromeliad The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a Family (biology), family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the Tropics, tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and on ...

plants grow. Scientists believe that the tadpoles may develop in water in bromeliad plants.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q28016772 dorisswansonae Amphibians described in 2006