Two-tone leaf riser
| Two-tone leaf riser | ||||||||||||
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Phyllobates bicolor |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phyllobates bicolor | ||||||||||||
| Duméril & Bibron , 1841 |
The Two-color phyllobates ( Phyllobates bicolor ) is a species of the genus phyllobates ( Phyllobates ) and the family is the poison dart frog (Dendrobatidae) to. With its strong yellow base color it is very similar to the species Phyllobates terribilis , is hardly inferior to it in terms of toxicity and differs outwardly mainly in the partly dark pigmentation of the legs and part of the abdomen.
Occurrence
This frog is native of the warm, humid rainforest of the Chocó region in western Colombia along the San Juan; another population can be found further south in the Quebrada Gangui. Although common, the species, like many others, is threatened by increasing habitat restriction, pollution, and invading species.
toxicity
P. bicolor is the second most poisonous poison dart frog after P. terribilis ; 150 micrograms of its poison, which is one of the batrachotoxins, is enough to kill an adult human; death occurs from muscular and respiratory paralysis. Local hunters often expose the frogs to the heat of a flame in order to let them “sweat out” their poison for use on arrows. Because the animals get their poison from their natural food, they lose their poison in captivity.
Web links
- Phyllobates bicolor in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2007. Posted by: Bolivar, W. & Lötters, S., 2004. Retrieved on 13 May, 2008.
- E. Olson: Phyllobates bicolor , 2001. Animal Diversity Web , accessed May 13, 2008.