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 in the Dendrobates genus.[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]
- Oophaga arborea (Myers, Daly, and Martínez, 1984) — Polkadot poison frog
- Oophaga granulifera (Taylor, 1958) — Granular poison frog
- Oophaga histrionica (Berthold, 1845) — Harlequin poison frog
- Oophaga lehmanni (Myers and Daly, 1976) — Lehmann's poison frog
- Oophaga occultator (Myers and Daly, 1976) — La Brea poison frog
- Oophaga pumilio (Schmidt, 1857) — Strawberry poison-dart frog
- Oophaga speciosa (Schmidt, 1857) — Splendid poison frog
- Oophaga sylvatica (Funkhouser, 1956) — Diablito poison frog
- Oophaga vicentei (Jungfer, Weygoldt, and Juraske, 1996) — Vicente's poison frog
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 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.
- 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.
- 1 2 3 "Oophaga — the obligate egg feeders". dendroWorks. 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
- 1 2 Vitt, Laurie J.; Caldwell, Janalee P. (2014). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles (4th ed.). Academic Press. p. 490.
- ↑ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-phagous
- ↑ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=egg
- ↑ Heselhaus, R. 1992. Poison-arrow frogs: their natural history and care in captivity. Blandford, London.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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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