''Colostethus'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
poison dart frog
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 Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are ...
s native to Central and South America, from Panama south to Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru. Their common name is rocket frogs,
but this name may refer to frogs in other genera and families, following the taxonomic revision of the genus in 2006.
Taxonomy
Formerly, the genus ''Colostethus'' was found to be "rampantly
nonmonophyletic" in the taxonomic revision of
poison dart frog
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 Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are ...
s published in 2006.
Before the revision, it had 138 species, but this was reduced to 18 species, after species of the former ''Colostethus'' were distributed among eight genera in two families, that is, in Dendrobatidae and in the newly established 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 ...
(e..g., ''
Anomaloglossus''). Within Dendrobatidae, many former ''Colostethus'' species were moved to ''
Hyloxalus
''Hyloxalus'' is a genus of poison dart frogs, family Dendrobatidae. The genus is distributed in Central and South America, from Panama south to Peru (along the Pacific coast), along with Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. They also inhabit the ea ...
'', while three were moved to the new genus ''
Silverstoneia
''Silverstoneia'' is a genus of poison dart frogs (family Dendrobatidae) from southern Central America and northern South America, between southwestern Costa Rica and southwestern Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, ...
''.
[ Nevertheless, ''Colostethus'' is still considered ]paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
because some ''Colostethus'' are more closely related to ''Ameerega
''Ameerega'' is a genus of poison dart frogs 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), ...
'' than to other ''Colostethus''.[
]
Description
Dorsal
Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to:
* Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism
* Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage
The fus ...
colouration is cryptic, brown. A pale oblique lateral stripe is present (but may be broken or incomplete). Dorsal skin is granular posteriorly. In adult males, third finger is swollen.[
]
Species
There are currently 12 species in this genus:[
]
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Amphibians of Central America
Amphibians of South America
Amphibian genera
Taxa named by Edward Drinker Cope
Poison dart frogs