Common rocket frog | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Anura |
Family: | Dendrobatidae |
Genus: | Colostethus |
Species: | C. panamansis |
Binomial name | |
Colostethus panamansis (Dunn, 1933) | |
Synonyms | |
Hyloxalus panamansisDunn, 1933 Contents |
Colostethus panamansis, the common rocket frog or Panama poison dart frog is a species of poison dart frog. It is found in northwestern Colombia and Panama. [2] It is one of the best studied poison dart frogs; however, until 2004 Colostethus panamansis was considered a synonym of Colostethus inguinalis , and consequently the older literature uses that name. [3]
Poison dart 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 diurnal and often have brightly colored bodies. This bright coloration is correlated with the toxicity of the species, making them aposematic. Some species of the family Dendrobatidae exhibit extremely bright coloration along with high toxicity, while others have cryptic coloration with minimal to no amount of observed toxicity. The species that have great toxicity derive this from their diet of ants, mites and termites. Other species however, that exhibit cryptic coloration and low to no amounts of toxicity, eat a much larger variety of prey. Many species of this family are threatened due to human infrastructure encroaching the places they inhabit.
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a sovereign state largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and Peru. It shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Colombia is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, with the capital in Bogota.
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Central America, bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's 4 million people.
The common rocket frog is found in several parts of Panama and in Parque Nacional Natural Los Katios in Colombia. It is found living near streams in forested lowland and hilly country, usually at elevations below 800 metres (2,600 ft). [1]
Los Katíos National Natural Park is a protected area located in northwest Colombia which covers about 720 km2 (280 sq mi). The elevation ranges between 50 and 600 m. It is a part of the Darién Gap, a densely forested area shared by Panama and Colombia, and is contiguous with the Darién National Park in Panama. The Pan-American Highway, when completed as proposed, would pass near or through Los Katíos. The park was declared a World Heritage Site in 1994 due to the extraordinary diversity of plant and animal species represented. The park contains over 25% of the bird species reported for Colombia in an area less than 1% of the total Colombian territory.
Adult males measure 19–27 mm (0.75–1.06 in) in snout–vent length and adult females 25–29 mm (0.98–1.14 in). [3]
The female common rocket frog lays her eggs in clutches among leaf litter. When they hatch, she carries them around on her back for up to nine days when she immerses herself in a fast flowing stream and they become detached and continue their development in the water. [4]
The pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis causes the emerging infectious disease chytridiomycosis which is the cause of the decline in many species of tropical amphibian. Colostethus panamansis was used to demonstrate that the fungus was indeed the pathogen responsible for the disease. Healthy rocket frogs from El Copé in Panama were collected and shown to be free of B. dendrobatidis. They were then exposed to an isolate of the fungus. Some of these died and from these B. dendrobatidis was reisolated and was demonstrated to be identical to the original infective agent thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. [5]
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, also known as Bd or the amphibian chytrid fungus, is a fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians.
Chytridiomycosis is an infectious disease in amphibians, caused by the chytrid fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, a nonhyphal zoosporic fungus. Chytridiomycosis has been linked to dramatic population declines or even extinctions of amphibian species in western North America, Central America, South America, eastern Australia, East Africa (Tanzania), and Dominica and Montserrat in the Caribbean. Much of the New World is also at risk of the disease arriving within the coming years. The fungus is capable of causing sporadic deaths in some amphibian populations and 100% mortality in others. No effective measure is known for control of the disease in wild populations. Various clinical signs are seen by individuals affected by the disease. A number of options are possible for controlling this disease-causing fungus, though none has proved to be feasible on a large scale. The disease has been proposed as a contributing factor to a global decline in amphibian populations that apparently has affected about 30% of the amphibian species of the world.
El Copé is a corregimiento in Olá District, Coclé Province, Panama. La MICA Biological Station is located nearby. It has a land area of 76.7 square kilometres (29.6 sq mi) and had a population of 1,425 as of 2010, giving it a population density of 18.6 inhabitants per square kilometre (48/sq mi). Its population as of 1990 was 1,081; its population as of 2000 was 1,263.
The common rocket frog is listed as being of "Least Concern" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This is because it has a wide range in which it is common, and though the population may be declining, this is not at a rate to allow it to qualify for a higher category. The chief threats it faces are deforestation, logging and farming activities including pollution of streams with pesticides. [1]
Deforestation, clearance, clearcutting or clearing is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land which is then converted to a non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests.
Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests, including weeds. The term pesticide includes all of the following: herbicide, insecticides nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, antimicrobial, fungicide and disinfectant (antimicrobial). The most common of these are herbicides which account for approximately 80% of all pesticide use. Most pesticides are intended to serve as plant protection products, which in general, protect plants from weeds, fungi, or insects.
Colostethus is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America, from Panama south to Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru. Their common name is rocket frogs, but this name may refer to frogs in other genera and families, following the taxonomic revision of the genus in 2006.
The Panamanian golden frog is a species of toad endemic to Panama. Panamanian golden frogs inhabit the streams along the mountainous slopes of the Cordilleran cloud forests of west-central Panama. While the IUCN lists it as critically endangered, it may in fact have been extinct in the wild since 2007. Individuals have been collected for breeding in captivity in a bid to preserve the species. The alternative common name, Zetek's golden frog, and the epithet zeteki both commemorate the entomologist James Zetek.
The Guajira stubfoot toad or Carrikeri harlequin frog, Atelopus carrikeri, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It is about 5 cm (2.0 in) long and typically black, though some populations have orange coloration. This species is endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range of northern Colombia. It is critically endangered because of the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, and habitat destruction due to agriculture. The species had not been seen from 1994 until it was rediscovered in early 2008.
Hyloxalus cevallosi is a species of poison dart frogs in the family Dendrobatidae. It is named after Gabriel Cevallos García, a famous Ecuadorean writer. This species of frog exists on the east side of the Andes in Ecuador near the Pastaza Province as well as the Zamora-Chinchipe Province. Though it has been recorded in Peru, the records have yet to be confirmed. Its natural habitats are very humid premontane and pluvial premontane forests.
Anomaloglossus degranvillei is a species of frog in the Aromobatidae family. It is known from French Guiana but is likely to occur also in Suriname and Brazil, and possibly in Guyana. It is named in honour of Jean-Jacques de Granville, a botanist from French Guiana.
Hyloxalus edwardsi is a species of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae. It is endemic to the Cordillera Oriental in the Cundinamarca Department, Colombia. It is named after Stephen R. Edwards from the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, a colleague of John D. Lynch who described this species in 1982.
Colostethus fraterdanieli is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae. It is endemic to the Andes in Colombia. Colostethus yaguara might be its junior synonym. It lives on the ground close to streams in cloud forests and in dry tropical forests. It is threatened by habitat loss caused by agriculture and logging.
Colostethus inguinalis is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae. It is endemic to northwestern and northcentral Colombia. Its common name is common rocket frog, although this name can also refer to Colostethus panamansis that until 2004 was considered a junior synonym of Colostethus inguinalis. Much of the older literature on Colostethus inguinalis is actually about Colostethus panamansis.
Colostethus latinasus is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae. It is known from Cerro Pirre in Darién Province, Panama, from Chocó Department in adjacent Colombia, and from Tierralta, Córdoba Department, Colombia.
Allobates marchesianus is a species of frog in the Aromobatidae family. It is found in the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. However, this species might represent a cryptic species complex, where at least the populations from Venezuela belong to an undescribed species. Its natural habitats are secondary and old-growth tropical rainforests, where it lives on the forest floor. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Rheobates palmatus is a species of frog in the family Aromobatidae; it is the type species of genus Rheobates erected in 2006. Its common name is palm rocket frog. It is endemic to Colombia. It is considered to be part of a species complex.
Colostethus pratti is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae. It is found in the northwestern Colombia and Panama, possibly also in southeastern Costa Rica. It is sometimes known as the Pratt's rocket frog. Colostethus pratti is named after Antwerp Edgar Pratt, an explorer who collected the type series.
Allobates talamancae is a species of frog in the Aromobatidae family. It is found in northwestern Ecuador, western Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and southern Nicaragua.
The Copan brook frog is a species of frog in the family Hylidae found in northeastern Guatemala and northwestern Honduras, specifically in the Sierra del Merendón, Sierra de Omoa, Sierra de Caral, and Sierra Espíritu Santo ranges. The colouring of this species is very distinctive and the specific name soralia comes from the resemblance of its markings to the vegetative structures on some crustose lichens.
Pristimantis gaigei is a species of frog in the family Craugastoridae. It is found in the Atlantic drainage lowlands from extreme southeastern Costa Rica to eastern Panama and to central Colombia; it is widely distributed in Colombia west of the Cordillera Oriental. Its natural habitat is primary humid lowland forest, but it also occurs in secondary forest. It is a nocturnal species found under surface debris and in leaf-litter.
Hemiphractus fasciatus, or the banded horned treefrog, is a species of frog in the Hemiphractidae family. It is found in central and eastern mountains of Panama, Pacific slopes of the Cordillera Occidental in Colombia, and northwestern Ecuador. It is a relatively large frog that may readily bite.
The Colombian four-eyed frog is a species of frog in the family Leptodactylidae. It is found in an area stretching from Guyana and northern Brazil through Venezuela and Colombia into Panama as well as the Netherlands Antilles.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Colostethus panamensis . |