''Epipedobates'' 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 ...

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 northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

(Colombia and Ecuador) west of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, including the western slopes. Common name phantasmal poison frogs has been suggested for the genus.

Taxonomy

''Epipedobates'' was erected in 1987 in an attempt to split dendrobatids into

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

genera, accommodating species that had until then been placed in ''

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 ...

''. In the major revision of poison dart frogs in 2006, most of the species formerly placed in ''Epipedobates'' were then transferred 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), ...

'', leaving behind just five species. The species count of ''Epipedobates'' had increased to seven by early 2024.

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. Dorsal skin is smooth or with irregularly scattered granules or tubercles, most distinct and prevalent posteriorly. In adult males, third finger is swollen.

Species

There are seven species:

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q648727 Poison dart frogs Amphibians of South America Amphibian genera