Anthony's poison arrow frog (''Epipedobates anthonyi'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

poison dart frog Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central and South America. These species are ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Dendrobatidae Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the Family (biology), family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central America, Central an ...

. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''anthonyi'', is in honor of American mammalogist

Harold Elmer Anthony Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Arts ...

(1890–1970), who was Curator of Mammals at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2013). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians''. Exeter, England: Pelagic Publishing Ltd. xiii + 262 pp. .

Description

Anthony's poison arrow frog has a snout-to-vent length of about . The hind legs are short and robust. The dorsal surface is usually dark red or brown and there are several yellowish-white oblique stripes and a central longitudinal stripe. Young froglets that have just completed metamorphosis are 11 mm long in snout-vent length.

Geographic range

Anthony's poison arrow frog is known only from a number of locations in southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru at heights of between above sea level.

Habitat

The natural habitat of ''E. anthonyi'' is the leaf litter on the floor of tropical dry forests, especially near streams. It has also been found in some modified habitats, such as near roads, on banana and cacao farms.

Biology

Anthony's poison arrow frog is diurnal and terrestrial. Males are territorial. A clutch of 15 to 40 eggs is laid on the ground among leaf litter, and the male guards them till they hatch in about two weeks. He then carries the tadpoles on his back to a suitable water body where they develop (through

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

) into frogs in about sixty days.

Epibatidine Epibatidine is a chlorinated alkaloid that is secreted by the Ecuadoran frog '' Epipedobates anthonyi'' and poison dart frogs from the ''Ameerega'' genus. It was discovered by John W. Daly in 1974, but its structure was not fully elucidated u ...

, an extremely toxic nicotine-like substance, was first derived from and named for ''Epipedobates anthonyi''. Once investigated for possible use as an analgesic agent, the alkaloid proved far too toxic for any application in human medicine and is presently used exclusively for research purposes. Scientists infer that the frog acquires the alkaloids through its diet because frogs collected from different types of habitats showed different levels of toxin, and frogs raised in captivity had none.

Status

Anthony's poison arrow frog is listed as "

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

" by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

and the government of Peru. Institutions in Ecuador classify it as "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

." Its population seems stable but it has a limited range, estimated to be less than , and its habitat is being degraded by pollution from agrochemicals. It is also collected for medicinal use. There is some collection for the international pet trade, but scientists do not know if this poses a threat to the species' survival.