''Excidobates captivus'', the Santiago poison frog or Rio Santiago poison frog, 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 Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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 ...

. It is

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 ...

to northwestern Peru and southern Ecuador. 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 ...

is 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. This frog is black with rows of orange-red spots on its back and yellow spots underneath.

Description

With an adult

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 ...

of , ''Excidobates captivus'' is a very small species of poison frog. It is black with orange-red splotches arranged in a row down either side of the back. It also has small yellow spots above the armpit and groin and further pale yellow spots beneath the chin and scattered on the chest and belly and under the thighs. The first finger of the forelimb is considerably shorter than the second finger.

Distribution

''Excidobates captivus'' was first collected in 1929 from the south side of the

Marañón River The Marañón River (, , ) is the principal or mainstem source of the Amazon River, arising about 160 km (100 miles) to the northeast of Lima, Peru, and flowing northwest across plateaus 3,650 m (12,000 feet) high, it runs through a deeply ero ...

near its confluence with the Santiago River in northwestern Peru, a wet lowland site at an elevation of about . It was rediscovered in the same locality some seventy-seven years later and a single specimen has also been observed on the north side of the Marañón River. It has also been found, at a higher altitude, in the Cordillera del Condor about northeast of Santa Rosa and also near Panguintza in

Zamora-Chinchipe Province Zamora Chinchipe (), Province of Zamora Chinchipe is a province of the Republic of Ecuador, located at the southeastern end of the Amazon Basin, which shares borders with the Ecuadorian provinces of Azuay and Morona Santiago to the north, Loja ...

in southern Ecuador, at an altitude of about . The habitat is wet parts of primary forest and areas close to streams.

Biology

''Excidobates captivus'' is a diurnal, terrestrial frog. In the breeding season, the male advertises his presence by calling from hidden positions among low foliage, emitting short "shrieks" at irregular intervals. The eggs may be laid on the forest floor among leaf litter. The tadpoles are transported on the parent's back to phytotelmata, temporary pools of water, and may be deposited in the axils of ''

Heliconia ''Heliconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku (province), ...

'' plants.

Status

''Excidobates captivus'' has been little studied but the remote terrain in which it is found means that its habitat is little disturbed. There is some small-scale gold-mining in the area but it is not known whether this affects the frog, the population of which seems stable. The species is common in certain parts of its range and it is thought that its total extent of occurrence may extend to an area of about .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16752985 Amphibians described in 1982 captivus Amphibians of Ecuador Frogs of Peru