| Discovery |
Myers & Daly & Malkin, 1978, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. New York, 161: 313.
|
| Type locality |
"lowland rain forest at Quebrada Guanguí, about 0.5 km above its junction with Río Patia, 100-200 m elevation, in upper Río Saija drainage, Department of Cauca, Colombia".
|
| Holotype |
The holotype: AMNH 88876 is located in the American Museum of Natural History, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, New York, USA.
|
| Etymology |
|
| Classification |
Ph. terribilis is the type species of the genus Phyllobates.
|
| Synonymy |
English name: Golden Poison Frog
|
| History |
|
| Physical description |
Ph. terribilis is a frog of 13-40 mm. The colour is a metallic golden-yellow without the dark legs that are characteristic of Ph.bicolor. A bony plate in the upper jaw has the teeth function and differentiates Ph.terribilis from the other poison frogs. The active skin toxin is batrachotoxin.
|
| Distribution |
Ph. terribilis is known from the region of the type locality (Cauca, Colombia), 100-200 m elevation.
|
| Biotope |
Ph. terribilis is found in moist tropical rainforest. The optimal temperature is 26-28°C during the dropping to about 24°C at night, with a humidity of 80-90%. A moist well lighted area with a lot of growth is ideal.
|
| Care and breeding |
A couple can be kept in a vivarium of minimal 50x50x50 cm. P. terribilis breeds mainly during the rainy season. The frog lays ones per month. The male calls the female from a leave with his vibrating song. Other males are chased from the territory.
When the female is interested they go and look for a suitable place to lay their eggs together, usually moist places in the leave litter or under rocks. The male fertilises the eggs, after which he visits the eggs on a regularly until they hatch. When the tadpoles hatch, the male takes them on his back and takes them to a larger water area where they will complete their metamorphosis.
Phyllobates terribilis eats a lot and needs bigger insects as well. Even very big insects can be fed like spiders, house flies, caterpillars....
|
| Foto's |
pictures by myself : ©marc van Doorn
The foto's ( with the copyright mark ) published here with the kind permission of www.pumilio.com ©
|
| Films |
|
home