Dendrobate À Ventre Tacheté

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Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Dendrobatidae
Genus:	Dendrobates
Species:	D. ventrimaculatus

Binomial name

Dendrobates ventrimaculatus (also Ranitomeya ventrimaculata)
Shreve, 1935

The Dendrobate À Ventre Tacheté (Dendrobates ventrimaculatus, also known under the synonym Ranitomeya ventrimaculata) is a species of frog in the Dendrobatidae family. It is found in two separate areas: one in the tropical lowlands along the upper Amazon and possibly its tributaries, i.e. for instance in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; and one in Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname. Its natural habitat are trees, and sometimes also the ground, of tropical rainforests. It is threatened by habitat loss.

1 Appearance
2 Reproduction
3 Toxicity
4 Source

[edit] Appearance

The frog is active during the day and grows to a size of about 20 mm, with males being a bit smaller than females. Its base color is black, and it has yellow lines or dots on the back, whereas the belly has bluish or grayish color with interspersed black patches (hence the name "ventrimaculatus"); the color of the belly continues into a netlike pattern on the legs.

[edit] Reproduction

D. ventrimaculatus reach adulthood at an age of six months. The females attach four to eight eggs to leaves beneath the water level, where they are inseminated by the male. The tadpoles leave the eggs after 12 to 16 days, the male carries them one by one to puddles or similar minute bodies of water; as the tadpoles are omnivorous and cannibalistic, they are separated from each other in the process. Metamorphosis into a frog is complete after 60 to 80 days.

[edit] Toxicity

D. ventrimaculatus secretes venoms through glands in the skin which protect it from fungi and bacteria as well as from predators, which are also warned to stay clear by the color. It is therefore often included among the dart-poison frogs, although its venom is comparatively weak. Similar to them, D. ventrimaculatus produces its poison by ingestion of certain insects, in this case a species of mites.