''Ranitomeya toraro'', the Apuriná poison frog, is a species of frog 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), family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central America, Central an ...

. It is endemic to

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and possibly nearby

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 ...

Taxonomy

Scientists used to classify this frog as conspecific with '' Adelphobates quinquevittaus'' and '' Ranitomeya ventrimaculata'' under the names ''Dendrobates quiquevittatus'' and ''Dendrobates ventrimaculatus'' but reevaluated the classifications in 2011.

Description

The adult frog measures 15–17 mm in snout-vent length. The toes of all four feet have climbing disks. The skin of the frog's head and back is black. It has stripes, like other frogs in ''Ranitomeya'', but they are thinner and narrower. This frog has stripes from its eyelids to its vent and one in the middle from the snout to the vent. There is a yellow spot on the snout. There is a ventrolateral stripe that is green-blue in color near the front legs and yellow near the groin. The chin is yellow in color with black spots. The belly and legs are black with light blue patterns that form ovals.

Habitat

This frog lives in undisturbed

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has regenerated through largely natural processes after human-caused Disturbance (ecology), disturbances, such as Logging, timber harvest or agriculture clearing, or ...

Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses , of which are covered by the rainf ...

. The frogs have been found on

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 ...

, on logs, and on branches as high as 35 cm higher than the ground.

Life cycle

Scientists have observed two

clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does the ...

of eggs, one above a pool of water in a bromeliad plant, and one single egg above a pool of water in a bananeira-brava plant. They have also observed tadpoles swimming in the pools in ''P. guayanese'' and ''

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, one tadpole per pool. Scientists think the tadpoles might engage in conspecific

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well document ...

. They have also seen adult male frogs carrying tadpoles on their backs. Other frogs in ''Ranitomeya'' carry their tadpoles to transport them from one pool of water to another.

Threats

The IUCN classifies this frog as least concern of extinction because of its large range and population. Scientists believe it might be at some risk of capture for the international pet trade, but no one has been caught selling it yet as of 2023.

References

Frogs of South America Amphibians of Colombia Frogs of Brazil Amphibians described in 2011 toraro {{Dendrobatidae-stub