Kingdom Animalia Order Anura Higher classification Poison dart frog | Phylum Chordata Scientific name Dendrobatinae Rank Subfamily | |
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Length Golden poison frog: 5.5 cm Lower classifications Poison‑dart Frogs, Ranitomeya, Phyllobates, Golden poison frog, Marañón poison frog | ||
Dendrobatinae is the main subfamily of frogs in the Dendrobatidae family, the poison dart frogs from Central and South America, from Nicaragua to the Amazon Basin in Brazil.
Contents
Description
Dendrobatinae are generally small frogs; Andinobates minutus is as small as 13–16 mm (0.51–0.63 in) in snout–vent length. Many species are brightly colored and all are toxic. Alkaloids in Phyllobates are particularly potent.
All species are presumed to show parental care, often by the male. However, some species show biparental care (Ranitomeya), whereas in Oophaga only females care for the tadpoles, feeding them with eggs, their only source of nutrition. The males are responsible for protecting the eggs from predation and keeping the eggs from drying out by urinating on them.
Genera
There are eight or seven genera in this subfamily:
The most specious genera are Ranitomeya (16 species) and Andinobates (13 species). Dendrobates used to be much larger but now contains only five species, having "lost" may species to genera erected later.