Oophaga

Oophaga
Oophaga sylvaticus
Oophaga pumilio
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Suborder: Neobatrachia
Family: Dendrobatidae
Subfamily: Dendrobatinae
Genus: Oophaga
Bauer, 1994
Species

9, See text

Oophaga is a genus of poison-dart frogs containing nine species. Many of these species 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 metres (3,900 ft)).

Contents

Etymology

Oophaga, Greek for "egg eater" (oon, phagos),[2][3] is descriptive of the tadpoles' diet.[4][5] The larvae feed exclusively on unfertilized eggs supplied as food by the mother.[6]

Species

Notes

  1. ^ 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). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 299, 1-262 (http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/bitstream/2246/5803/1/B299.pdf)
  2. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=-phagous
  3. ^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=egg
  4. ^ Heselhaus, R. 1992. Poison-arrow frogs: their natural history and care in captivity. Blandford, London.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ http://www.robbster.com/RobbHome/FrogPage

External links