Oophaga

Oophaga
Oophaga pumilio
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Amphibia
Order:Anura
Family:Dendrobatidae
Subfamily:Dendrobatinae
Genus:Oophaga
Bauer, 1994
Type species
Dendrobates pumilio
Schmidt, 1857
Diversity
9 species (see text)

Oophaga is a genus of poison-dart frogs containing nine species, many of which were formerly placed in the genus Dendrobates.[1] The frogs are distributed in Central and South America, from Nicaragua through the Colombian El Choco to northern Ecuador (at elevations below 1,200 m (3,900 ft)).[1][2] Their habitats vary with some species being arboreal while other being terrestrial,[3] but the common feature is that their tadpoles are obligate egg feeders.[3][1][4]

Etymology

Oophaga, Greek for "egg eater" (oon, phagos),[5][6] is descriptive of the tadpoles' diet.[7][8]

Reproduction

While presumably all dendrobatids show parental care, this is unusually advanced in Oophaga: the tadpoles feed exclusively on unfertilized eggs supplied as food by the mother; the father is not involved.[1][4] Through the eggs, the mother also passes defensive toxins to the tadpoles: Oophaga pumilio tadpoles experimentally fed with eggs from alkaloid-free frogs did not contain alkaloids.[9]

Species

There are nine species in this genus:[2]

ImageScientific nameCommon nameDistribution
Oophaga arborea (Myers, Daly, and Martínez, 1984)Polkadot poison frogPanama
Oophaga granulifera (Taylor, 1958)Granular poison frogCosta Rica and Panama
Oophaga histrionica (Berthold, 1845)Harlequin poison frogEl Chocó region of western Colombia
Oophaga lehmanni (Myers and Daly, 1976)Lehmann's poison frogwestern Colombia
Oophaga occultator (Myers and Daly, 1976)La Brea poison frogCordillera Occidental in the Cauca Department of Colombia
Oophaga pumilio (Schmidt, 1857)Strawberry poison-dart frogeastern central Nicaragua through Costa Rica and northwestern Panama
Oophaga speciosa (Schmidt, 1857)Splendid poison frogCordillera de Talamanca, western Panama
Oophaga sylvatica (Funkhouser, 1956)Diablito poison frogsouthwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador.
Oophaga vicentei (Jungfer, Weygoldt, and Juraske, 1996)Vicente's poison frogVeraguas and Coclé Provinces of central Panama

Captivity

Oophaga are kept as pets, but they are challenging to breed in captivity. Oophaga pumilio, however, is easier to breed and popular.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Grant, T., Frost, D. R., Caldwell, J. P., Gagliardo, R., Haddad, C. F. B., Kok, P. J. R., Means, D. B., Noonan, B. P., Schargel, W. E., and Wheeler, W. C. (2006). "Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives (Amphibia: Athesphatanura: Dendrobatidae)" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. American Museum of Natural History. 299: 1–262. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)299[1:PSODFA]2.0.CO;2.
  2. 1 2 Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Oophaga Bauer, 1994". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Oophaga — the obligate egg feeders". dendroWorks. 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 Vitt, Laurie J.; Caldwell, Janalee P. (2014). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles (4th ed.). Academic Press. p. 490.
  5. ↑ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-phagous
  6. ↑ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=egg
  7. ↑ Heselhaus, R. 1992. Poison-arrow frogs: their natural history and care in captivity. Blandford, London.
  8. ↑ Zimmermann, E. and Zimmermann, H. 1994. Reproductive strategies, breeding, and conservation of tropical frogs: dart-poison frogs and Malagasy poison frogs. In: J.B. Murphy, K. Adler and J.T. Collins (eds), Captive management and conservation of amphibians and reptiles, pp. 255-266. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca (New York). Contributions to Herpetology, Volume 11.
  9. ↑ Stynoski, J. L.; Torres-Mendoza, Y.; Sasa-Marin, M.; Saporito, R. A. (2014). "Evidence of maternal provisioning of alkaloid-based chemical defenses in the strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumilio". Ecology. 95 (3): 587–593. doi:10.1890/13-0927.1. PMID 24804437.
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