Allobates Femoralis, Epipedobates Femoralis at www.poison-frogs.com

Poison Frogs - Species - Allobates Femoralis, Epipedobates Femoralis

Discovery	Boulenger, G.A. (1883): On a collection of frogs from Yurimaguas, Huallaga River, northern Peru. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1883(4): 635-638, pls. 57-58.
Type locality	'Yurimaguas, Huallaga river, [Loreto,] northern Peru'
Holotype	The lectotype of Prostherapis femoralis is located in the British Museum of Natural History in London: BM (NH) 1947.2.14.21. This specimen has been collected by Dr. Hahnel.
Etymology	Epipedobates coming from the Greek 'epipedos' = on the bottom and 'bates' =walker; referring to the bottom dwelling live style; femoralis femur, femoris (L.)= thigh, hip; referring probably to the noticeable yellow or orange spot in the loin.
Classification	femoralis has a some what separate position within the family Dendrobatidae. Some taxonomists like Charles Myers of the American Museum of Natural History in New York adds them to the Epipedobates pictus-group within the genus Epipedobates. This group includes species without real relationships. E.tricolor, de type-species is a special case. E.trivittatus, bassleri and silverstonei are related, by Zimmermann & Zimmermann (1988) separated into a separate genus: Phobobates. And a group of related species, that you might call the red-back poison frogs, adults 2-3 cm big frog with a red or red-brown granular back: E.parvulus, zaparo, petersi, cainarachi, bilinguis, macero and possible some others. Remaining is a group of species that seem to be related to Epipedobates pictus. E.femoralis has a bit of a unusual position in this group. It is bigger (33 mm), the skin toxin is of a different composition and the call is different. Reason enough for Zimmermann and Zimmermann (1988: 136-137) to place this species in a different genus: Allobates femoralis. But this vision is not fully shared by all taxonomists.
Synonymy	English name: Brilliant-thighed Poison(-arrow) Frog Prosfherapis femoralis, Phyllobates femoralis ,Dendrobates spec. 'red-black' ,Dendrobates femoralis, Epipedobates femoralis ,Phyllobates femoralis
History	George Albert Boulenger, an English herpetologist and ichthyologist, associated to the British Museum of Natural History London, described this species in 1883 as Prostherapis femoralis. The material he based his description on, was collected by a Dr. Hahnel in north-east Peru near Yurimaguas near the Huallaga river. In 1898 he determined specimens from Ecuador as well as P.femoralis. In 1905 Barbour used the name Prostherapis femoralis again for a frog coming from Colombia. Because Boulenger had used this name before, Barbour changed this species in 1909 to Prostherapis boulengeri. Barbour & Noble put femoralis in 1920 in the genus Phyllobates. This vision has been followed by almost all authors after that, although some (Toft, 1980; Schlüter, 1987 and Aichinger, 1987) have placed this species in the genus Dendrobates. In 1987 Myers, in his reclassification of the genera of Dendrobatidae, added femoralis to the genus Epipedobates based on morphology of the larvae and the adults, colouring and mainly the composition of the skin toxins. In this genus he basically added all species Silverstone (1976) had added to the Phyllobates femoralis and the Ph.trivittatus groups. Zimmermann and Zimmermann (1988) did not only place trivittatus and his relatives in their own genus (Phobobates), but also femoralis: Allobates femoralis. This had been done based on the varying skin toxins and the different call of the male, that sounds more like a Colostethus-species. Besides, they heard different calls in different populations. The animals from Brazil have a call made up of a series of four pulses and animals from Peru a series of three. The genus Allobates only exists of a single species at the moment: A.femoralis. Within the wide range of the distribution area some populations have obvious differences so it might not be impossible, that new species will be described. Silverstone (1976: 31) described a case of mimicry with respect to this species. Epipedobates pictus and Epipedobates (=Allobates) femoralis are two frogs with an identical colouring and a nearly identical distribution area. If this colouring is recognised by possible predators as non-eatable, both species profit of the poisonousness of the other species, a phenomenon known as 'Miller's mimicry'. Nelson and Miller (1971) describe another case of mimicry with respect to this species. In the family of Leptodactylidae there is another species, Lithodytes lineatus, that has a similar distribution area to Phyllobates (=Allobates) femoralis (and E.pictus). The colouring of both species is very much alike, besides their choice of biotope is similar. Nelson and Miller suggest the non-poisonous Lithodytes lineatus profits of the poisonousness of Phyllobates (=Allobates) femoralis (and E.pictus), a phenomenon biologist call 'Bates' mimicry'.
Physical description	Adult females have a size of 33.5 mm, the males are usually smaller. The skin on back and upper side of the hind legs is clearly granular, the skin on the belly and underside of the limbs is smooth. The first finger is longer then the second and between the toes rudimentary webbings are present. The colour of the back is dark brown, on both sides a golden or yellow (Ecuador, Peru) or white (Brazil, Guyana) dorsolateral stripe, from loin to flank and over the eye to the snout. A second stripe goes from front legs to the snout. The flanks are black. The ventrolateral stripes (from loin to front legs) are white or blue-white in the western area of the distribution area to silver-white in animals from Brazil and Guyanas. The upper side of the legs is light brown or grey with spots. On top of the upper arm is a bright yellow or orange spot. In the loin is a similar yellow or orange spot bordered with black. Behind the thigh is a red stripe. The underside of the body and legs is black, brown (Ecuador) or grey with blue-white marbled pattern. The iris is black with a golden ring, brown with red or bronze (Ecuador).
Distribution	Almost the whole Amazon basin in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil and the Guyanas: Surinam, Guyana and French Guyana. The most western locations are on the beginning of the Andes up to about 600 m elevation.. The border of the distribution area is in the north (Venezuela?), south and east are not known. The most known southern locations are in the Manu National Park in southern Peru and a location in Rondonia, Brazil. The most eastern known location is the Serra do Navio in the Amapa-district in Brazil.
Biotope	Low land rainforest and mountain rainforest between 14 and 610 m elevation. Lescure found them in primary and secondary rainforest. Mr Woeltjes found them in primary moist rainforest on low hills in Surinam and French Guyana. They were found in the leave litter on the bottom. The air temperature was between 25 and 28°C.The bottom temperature was everywhere 25°C. Males call from the bottom or from tree roots and branches max one meter above the ground.
Care and breeding	Allobates femoralis is rarely found in our hobby, even though it is an easy to keep frog. They can be kept in a standard rainforest vivarium. They feed on all kinds of small insects. The call is very nice: a high pitched long vibrating call, lasting about four seconds sounding like a cricket. Silverstone found them in Ecuador and Surinam with larvae on their backs in June and July. Hoogmoed found larvae of this species in water filled stalks of fallen palm leaves in Surinam in February (Polder, 1976). In the vivarium they have been bred successfully.
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