The blue-bellied poison frog or bluebelly poison frog (''Andinobates minutus'') is a species 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 ...

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 ...

. Dart-poison frogs (Dendrobatidae) form the most diverse group of diurnal frogs in the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

, diminutive animals that possess

aposematic coloration Aposematism is the advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such ...

and toxic skin secretions. Taxonomic problems among these frogs are often caused by color polymorphisms which are common within and between species; thus molecular genetics, bioacoustics, ecological and behavioral data have been applied recently to solve many taxonomic problem within the family. It is found in

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 ...

and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. The range of this species within Panama and Colombia goes from Panama (within El Valle and Cerro Campana, in the central areas of the country and the eastern lowlands and cordilleras), south to Colombia (south to Rio Saija). It occurs below 1,000m, generally even lower. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s. It is a locally abundant, terrestrial species. As the scientific name suggests, it is a small frog, only in

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the mos ...

. The eggs are deposited in leaf-litter; the male carries the

tadpole A tadpole or polliwog (also spelled pollywog) is the Larva, larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully Aquatic animal, aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial animal, ...

s to

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 ...

s, where they complete their development. It is not found in degraded habitats, but does occur in mature secondary forests. ''Andinobates minutus'' have a specialist diet, with preference for Acari (mites), Formicidae (ants), Collembola (springtails), and Holometabolous larvae. 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 ...

(deforestation) and pollution. Specifically, the major threats for this species are deforestation for agricultural development, illegal crops, logging, human settlement, and pollution resulting from the spraying of illegal crops. This species is not collected for pet trade, unlike many other poison frogs.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1595777 minutus Amphibians of Colombia Amphibians of Panama Amphibians described in 1935 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by Benjamin Shreve