The sky-blue poison frog (''Hyloxalus azureiventris'') is a species 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 ...

. 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 ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and known from the lower eastern versant 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 ...

in the upper Amazon basin of the San Martín Region.

Habitat and ecology

The species habitat is primarily lowland

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

s as well as inland

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s of Peru. The adult frog seems to prefer caves and rock piles, but juvenile frogs have been observed in the

leaf litter Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall, or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that has fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituen ...

. Little is known about the species' adaptability to modified habitats. This frog has been observed between 200 and 1200 meters above sea level. This frog's range includes at least one protected park: Cordillera Escalera Regional Conservation Area.

Reproduction

People hear the male frogs calling to the female frogs at dusk. They perch on rocks or sit in crevices. The female frog lays 12-16 eggs in water in coconut shells, in hollows in the leaf litter, or in water in bromeliad plants. The male frogs guard the eggs during the two weeks they take to hatch. After that, the male frogs carry the tadpoles to water in streams, bromeliad plants, or even water-filled fallen palm leaves. The tadpoles can grow to 11.5 mm. The end of the tail is round. Each tadpole has five rows of teeth, two on top and three on the bottom. The tadpoles are dark gray in color.

Taxonomy

The species has been placed in numerous genera, including the new genus ''Cryptophyllobates'' erected for it. However, it is now placed in ''

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 ...

''; although ''Hyloxalus azureiventris'' represents a distinct

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

within ''Hyloxalus'', recognizing it formally would render the rest of ''Hyloxalus''

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 ...

Description

The adult frog measures about 27 mm long in snout-vent length. The frog's skin has a black base color with bright

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 ...

. There are yellow stripes reaching from the nose over the eyes to the back legs. There are more yellow stripes from the nose to the front legs. The upper surfaces of the back, front legs, and back legs have blue-green marbling. The flanks are black in color, and all four legs have bright blue marks.

Conservation status and threats

Due to the decreasing population of sky-blue poison frogs, the species is ranked as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. The major threat to the species is habitat loss resulting from human residential and commercial development and agriculture.

Relationship to humans

This frog does appear in the international pet trade, but unlike with other similarly beautiful frogs, scientists do not claim that this poses a threat to the species' survival. Legal export took place during the mid 00s, and the frog can be bred in captivity.

References

azureiventris Amphibians of the Andes Amphibians of Peru Endemic fauna of Peru Amphibians described in 1985 Taxa named by Klaus Henle {{Dendrobatidae-stub