''Dendrobates'' is a genus 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. It once contained numerous species, but most originally placed in this genus have been split off into other genera such as '' Adelphobates'', ''

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), ...

'', ''

Andinobates ''Andinobates'' is a genus of poison dart frogs from Ecuador, Colombia and Panama. It contains species formerly classified in the genus ''Dendrobates'' and in 2006 transferred to the genus ''Ranitomeya''. In 2011 Twomey, Brown, and their colleag ...

'', ''

Epipedobates ''Epipedobates'' is a genus of poison dart frogs native to northern South America (Colombia and Ecuador) west of the Andes, including the western slopes. Common name phantasmal poison frogs has been suggested for the genus. Taxonomy ''Epipedobat ...

'', '' Excidobates'', ''

Oophaga ''Oophaga'' is a genus of poison-dart frogs containing twelve species, many of which were formerly placed in the genus ''Dendrobates''. The frogs are distributed in Central and South America, from Nicaragua south through the El Chocó to norther ...

'', ''

Phyllobates ''Phyllobates'' is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America, from Nicaragua to Colombia. There are 3 different Colombian species of ''Phyllobates'', considered highly toxic species due to the poison they contain in the wil ...

'' and ''

Ranitomeya ''Ranitomeya'' is a genus of dart poison frogs found in Panama and South America south to Peru and Brazil, possibly into Bolivia. Taxonomy In 2006 Grant et al. revised the systematics of poison dart frogs and placed many species formerly classif ...

'' (essentially all the brightly marked poison dart frogs; i.e. excluding the duller genera in the family like ''

Colostethus ''Colostethus'' is a genus of poison dart frogs 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, foll ...

'' and '' Hyloxalus''), leaving only five large to medium-sized species in the genus ''Dendrobates''. All the other genera used to be grouped in with ''Dendrobates'' because it was previously thought that all brightly colored poison dart frogs came from the same ancestor but this has since been proven to be incorrect. ''Dendrobates'' and ''Phyllobates'' evolved conspicuous coloration from the same common ancestor but not the same as any of the other genera listed above. There is accumulating evidence that ''Dendrobates'' are diet specialists and sequester the toxin found on their skin from their diet. It has been found that diet specialization evolved in tandem with conspicuous coloration in the case of ''Dendrobates''. The generic name ''Dendrobates'' is derived , meaning ‘tree climber’. ''Dendrobates'' mostly live on the forest floor. They lay their eggs in damp leaf litter on the forest floor. After the eggs hatch, some species of ''Dendrobates'' carry their tadpoles on their backs up to the rainforest canopy so they can grow in the pools of water on top of

Bromeliaceae 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, ...

, and feed their tadpoles with unfertilized eggs.

Species

References

Poison dart frogs Amphibians of Central America Amphibians of South America Amphibian genera Taxa named by Johann Georg Wagler {{Dendrobatidae-stub