Adelphobates quinquevittatus

Adelphobates quinquevittatus

CALDWELL & MYERS, 1990 – BRAZIL

Description

Adelphobates quinquevittatus is a small sized frog, dorsal skin finely granular, ventral skin smooth or moderately granular on belly. Head and body black with five pale light blue, faintly greenish or yellowish white stripes; throat and venter pale blue, greenish or yellowish white with irregular black markings. Arms and legs orange, dull orange or dirty orange above and below, with well-separated small black spots at least on the dorsal limb surfaces; an ill-defined albeit conspicuous small spot ofbright gold, iridescent or bright orange or orange-red at dorsal insertions of arms and legs. Relative length of appressed fingers 3 > 4 > 2 > 1; relative lengths of appressed digits 4 > 3 > 5 > 2 > 1; discs markedly expanded on all except first finger. Third finger disc 1.6-2.2 times wider than distal end of adjacent phalanx, averaging wider in males than in females. First toe with nonexpanded disc, other toes with moderately expanded discs. Toes not webbed. Canthus rostralis rounded; loreal region vertical and flat. Iris black.

Diagnosis

Adelphobates quinquevittatus differs from Adelphobates castaneoticus by its stripes on the back and flanks instead of round or comma-like points, from Ranitomeya cyanovittata and Ranitomeya yavaricola by its smaller finger discs and orange signal spots instead of whitish or greenish ones, also by its thinner stripes and its more orangeish legs.

Size

Adult males are in a range of 16.0-17.5 mm snout-cloaca and females measure a range of 18.3-20.2 mm snout-cloaca.

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is exhibited only by males being slightly smaller than females, third finger disc in males wider than in females.

Natural history

Adelphobates quinquevittatus is a small and shy diurnal frog, lives in the leaf litter, also on tree buttresses and stumps to at least 1 m above ground. Tadpoles are found in several kinds of phytotelmata in water-filled holes atop a palm stump and a tree-stump (1 m high); an adult frog was seen in one of these holes. Tadpoles (and a juvenile) were in a dead stump cavity and two other larvae were in a rolled palm frond on the ground, also in fallen Brazil nut fruit capsules (one capsule with three larvae, one capsule with two larvae and nine capsules with one larva each), in the water-filled crevice of a log. Although Brazil nut fruit capsules are commonly used, Adelphobates quinquevittatus seems to deposit tadpoles in virtually any available phytotelmata on or near the forest floor.

Geografic distribution

Adelphobates quinquevittatus is distributed in lowland rain forest in Brasil, Amazonas and Rondônia.

Conservation Status

LC – least concern

Note

This name was used for several small striped species. References in older literature should therefore be examined carefully to determine which species they was talking about.

References

www.amphibiaweb.org
br.herpeto.org
dendrobase.de
iucnredlist.org

Caldwell, J. P., and C. W. Myers. 1990. A new poison frog from Amazonian Brazil, with further revision of the quinquevittatus group of Dendrobates. American Museum Novitates 2988: 1-21. PDF