Dendrobates Histrionicus at www.poison-frogs.com

Poison Frogs - Species - Dendrobates Histrionicus

Discovery	Berthold, 1847. Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften und der Georg-Augustus-Universität zu Göttingen, 1845: 43.
Type locality	"Neu-Granada .... Provinz Popayan"; clarified by Myers and Böhme, 1996, Am. Mus. Novit., 3185: 17, to "Pacific versant northwestern Colombia, probably upper Río San Juan drainage in the present-day Department of Risaralda" western Colombia.
Holotype	Syntypes (ZFMK 28119-21, 28123, AMNH 140863 (formerly ZFMK 28122); ZFMK 28123) in the Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany. Designated lectotype by Myers and Böhme, 1996, American Museum Novitates, New York, 3185: 8.
Etymology
Classification	Member of the Dendrobates histrionicus group.
Synonymy	English name: Harlequin Poison Dart Frog - Hylaplesia de Cocteau Duméril and Bibron, 1841 GORHAM 1974 {status??} - Dendrobates tinctorius var. cocteani Steindachner, 1864, Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien, 14: 261. Type locality: Brazil and Colombia. Cochran and Goin, 1970: 28, suggested that original orthography is in error for cocteaui. - Dendrobates tinctorius cocteaui--Boulenger, 1914 "1913", Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1913: 1027. Unjustified emendation. Status distinct from Dendrobates tinctorius tinctorius rejected by Laurent, 1942, Bulletin du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique, Bruxelles, 18(43): 1-20. - Dendrobates tinctorius var. coctaei--Boulenger, 1914 "1913", Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1913: 1027. Unjustified emendation of cocteaui. - Dendrobates tinctorius wittei Laurent, 1942, Bulletin du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique, Bruxelles, 28: 12. Holotype (MRHN I.G. 1942, Reg. 62; subsequently reported as IRSNB 1.038 by Lang, 1990) in the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Doc. Trav., 59: 7. Type locality: "'Los Mangos' (Colombie)". Synonymy by Silverstone, 1975, Science Bulletin. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 21: 11. - Dendrobates tinctorius histrionicus--Laurent, 1942, Bulletin du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique, Bruxelles, 28: 12. - Dendrobates histrionica--Dunn, 1944, Caldasia, 2: 520. - Dendrobates histrionicus sylvaticus Funkhouser, 1956, Zoologica, New York, 41: 73. Holotype: CAS-SU 10568 in de Stanford University collection. Type locality: "Hacienda espinosa, elevation about 1,000 ft., 9 km. west of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, Province of Pichincha, north-western Ecuador". - Dendrobates histrionicus confluens Funkhouser, 1956, Zoologica, New York, 41: 75. Holotype: CAS-SU 13151 in de Stanford University collection. Type locality: "La Ciudad (de Madrigar), lying in the pass through the western Cordillera of the Río Patia, Department of Nariño, southwestern Colombia (approximately Long. 77° 30´ W. X Lat. 1° 46´ N.), at an elevation of ±600 mtr." - Dendrobates tinctorius confluens--Cochran and Goin, 1970, Bulletin of the United States National Museum, Washington, D.C., 288: 32.
History	The first physical description, was by Berthold in 1847. He mentions the frog as a bright orange frog with a webbing of black over the whole body (Zamora et al 1999).
Physical description	Dendrobates histrionicus knows many colour variations. Dendrobates histrionicus is a medium sized frog of 2.5 to 3.8 cm (Staniszewski, 1995). Nowadays a large amount of colour variations fall in D. histrionicus, changing from valley to valley. The colour variations have a base of clear to dull orange, yellow, red, white or blue. The web pattern varies from small lines to big lines or speckled, incomplete lines to a completely black frog with just a few spots. With this last type it looks like a black base, while the black is actually the colour of the spots. D. histrionicus feeds on ants, termites, small bugs and other small insects they are able to find in the leave litter.
Distribution	Colombia and Ecuador. Dendrobates histrionicus can be found in tropical rainforest from western Ecuador, north to the Choco region of Colombia (Zamora et al 1999).
Biotope	From sea level up to 1000 meter elevation. D. histrionicus can be found on the ground of moist tropical rain forest, on fallen branched and in the leave litter.
Care and breeding	Care and breeding of Dendrobates histrionicus is relatively simple. The female takes care of the brood. Keep them separated from other species in the histrionicus group (like D. lehmanni) to avoid cross breeding. The vivarium should be 80 x 40 x 50 cm for a group of about 4 frogs and a layer of leaves on the ground. It is important to choose plants with large funnels. A "dry season" with spraying 3 times a day (October to April) and a temperature at night of 18 tot 19°C and a day time temperature of 20 to 22°C. A "rainy season" where spraying can be up to seven times a day (May to September) at a day temperature of 20 to 25°C has led to successful breeding. The main activity is during the "rainy season". Te eggs are well laid in black plastic film boxes. Fruit flies and springtails are sufficient as food. The male signals the female from a sunny leave with his cricket-like call. When the female seems to be interested, they will look for a suitable oviposit place together. The female lays the eggs on a leave, after which the male fertilises the eggs. A lay contains of 4 to 20 eggs (National Aquarium in Baltimore, 1999). After the eggs have been fertilised, the female guards the eggs. After about 10 days they hatch and the tadpoles crawl on the back of the female using their tail. The female takes the tadpoles to water filled bromeliads and feeds daily them with non-fertilised eggs laid by the female (Zamora et al 1999). After three months the metamorphosis is complete (Staniszewski, 1995; Zamora et al., 1999; National Aquarium in Baltimore, 1999; and Ryan, 1999).
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