Blue-bellied poison frog

Dendrobates minutus

TAXONOMY

Dendrobates minutus Shreve, 1935, Barro Colorado Island, Panama.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

German: Zwergbaumsteiger.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The snout-vent length is 0.47–0.61 in (12.0–15.5 mm) in females and 0.47–0.59 in (12.0–15.0 mm) in males. This tiny dendrobatid typically is bronze on the dorsum, with a black-and-white or black-and-blue marbled venter.

DISTRIBUTION

This species occurs on the Pacific coast from Panama to central Colombia.

HABITAT

Individuals are found in rainforest below 3,300 ft (1,000 m).

BEHAVIOR

Adult males transport tadpoles on their backs to bromeliad tanks. Tadpoles are predaceous and feed on mosquito larvae.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Adults feed on small insects and other arthropods. Like other dendrobatids, this species is an active, diurnal forager.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Males are territorial. Clutches of two eggs are laid in leaf litter. The male attends the eggs periodically and carries the tadpoles to small pools of water in the leaf axils of plants.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

None known.