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Oophaga pumilio
A small (2.5cm or 1" sv) poison frog. Known for its many colour variations. This one is the 'Blue Morph'. It is entirely blue/blue-indigo with just a hint of red at its elbows and knees.
Living in leaf litter in semi cleared forest on one of the islands that make up an area known as the Darklands within the Bocas Del Toro Province in western Panama. I has been unseasonably dry and these guys were pretty hard to find.
The colour variations for this species are remarkable. It is thought to be due to geographic isolation of different populations and in this area many of the islands have a different colour morph. Some more marked than others. The poison secreted in the frogs skin is an alkaloid derived from Pumiliotoxin. The frogs diet consists largely of mites (Orabatida) and ants (formicine ants from genus Brachymyrmex) that contain these toxins. The more they eat of these, the more toxic they become.
Spotted on Apr 7, 2018
Submitted on Apr 28, 2018
4 Comments
Thanks again Neil. This species is incredible for its variants of colour morph. Can't remember the exact amount but there are a lot of different ones. Some are so different they could be different species but I guess the DNA tells the story.
And this is the same species as the blue jeans orange frog? Incredible variety and awesome colours. Awesome notes too.
Thank you for your comment Brian. Much appreciated.
Great spotting and info Robert!