| Discovery |
Shreve, B. (1935): On a new toad and Amphibia from Panama, Ecuador and Paraguay. Occ. Pap. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 8: 209-218.
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| Type locality |
'Sarayacu, Ecuador'. Province Pastaza. About 50 km south-east of Puyo in central Ecuador in the upper basin of the Rio Pastaza near a town with the same name.
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| Holotype |
The holotype is located in the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge (Massachusetts), USA: MCZ 19734. Collected by O.C. Felton in 1933. Further syntype (CM 10607) collected by C. Spencer in 1932 along the Pastaza River somewhere between Canelos and Rio Maranon.
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| Etymology |
ventris (L.)= belly; macula (L.)= spot; = spotted belly, referring to the spotlike pattern on his belly.
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| Classification |
Dendrobates ventrimaculatus is a member of the D.quinquevittatus-group.
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| Synonymy |
Dutch name: Amazone gifkikker
English name: Amazonian Poison Frog
Dendrobates minutus ventrimaculatis, Dendrobates tinctorius igneus, Dendrobates igneus. A lot of details on breeding biology and keeping this species in the vivarium are published under Dendrobates quinquevittatus. Martins & Haddad (1990, Mem. Inst, Butantan 52(2): 53-56) and Caldwell & Myers (1990; 11-16) showed D.quinquevittatus is well distinguished species with a small distribution area in the province Róndonia in Brazil with a clearly recognisable colour pattern: a black body with about five green or light blue stripes and red-brown limbs with black spots. This species has never been in our hobby until now.
Reference: Shreve (1935, Occ. Pap, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 8: 213-214)
Reference: Silverstone (1975, Sci. Bull. Nat. Hist. Mus. LA Cty. 21: '33-35; Synonymy of Dendrobates quinquevittatus)
Reference: Caldwell k Myers (1990, Amer. Mus. Novit. 2988: 16-20; valid species and D.variabilis is a synonym)
First described as -: ventrimaculatus, Dendrobates minutus
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| History |
Shreve (1935) described ventrimaculatus as a sub-species of Dendrobates minutus. The holotype he used for the physical description, coming from Sarayacu in Ecuador. According to Silverstone (1975: 35), who thought of D. ventrimaculatus as synonym of the variable species D.quinquevittatus. In Sarayacu in Pastaza province, about fifty kilometres south-east from Puyo in the upper river basin of the Rio Pastaza where there is a town with the same name (Jan Verkade, pers. Meded.) is the probable type locality. Silverstone (1975: 33-34) describes the colour pattern of the types as "the striped pattern as is found with specimens from the larger part of the Amazon basin and French Guyana". In some specimens the stripes are not interconnected and in others they are (his 'subpattern 1 a and 1b'). If the stripes are yellow or red is not visible on the holotype anymore, but in the area of the type locality the yellow and red populations can both be found. If these are variances or separate species is not (yet) clear. Caldwell & Myers (1990, Amer. Mus. Novit. 1988: 16-20) name D. ventrimaculatus as separate species, but it is unclear to what population they belong. For the time being all yellow and red specimens from the Amazon basin in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil and populations from French Guyana belong to this species. They mention that it is unclear as well if the two species are related. Extensive research is required.
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| Physical description |
A small species from the D.quinquevittatus group size 12-17 mm. The skin on the back is smooth or slightly granular and the belly is slightly granular. The tympanum is round and small ( about half the diameter of the eye). The finger disks are present and there is no distinction between males and females. The tarsal tubercle is absent. On a dark base some yellow, orange or red stripes are present. An incomplete lateral stripe is available on each side of the body, going up to the upper lip, some complete dorsolateral stripes and a complete or incomplete stripe on the middle of the back. Some specimens and populations have stripes that are bounded together by cross-stripes. The stripe on the middle of the back splits in some specimens in a Y-shape on the snout. The limbs have a pale-blue web-pattern on a black base. On the chin they have a bright blue (or orange in populations from Gallenazo, Peru) spot or the complete throat is bright blue. The belly is black with a pale-blue web-pattern that gave them their name.
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| Distribution |
The type locality is Sarayacu in Pastaza Province, Peru. Supposedly it is the town Sarayacu on the Rio Pucuno in the upper basin of the Rio Napo. A syntype has been collected somewhere along the Rio Pastaza between Canelos and the Rio Maranon, a trail of about 500 km. At this moment many known populations from the Amazon low land in Colombia (La Chorrera), Ecuador, Peru (Colonia, Hameau Kuiru, Yuyapichis, and the 'red quinq') and Brazil (Salto de Girao) and the known populations in our hobby from French Guyana (Kaw, Cacao, Montsinery, Marianne polder) are included.
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| Biotope |
D.ventrimaculatus is found in the moist sub-montane or lowland rainforest up to about 1000 m elevation. The animals live near the bottom (up to 2 meters). In the biotopes where Mr. Woeltjes found them, no bromeliads were available on the ground and just a few in the tree tops. This is supported by observations made by others (e.g. Schulte, 1981), but other authors only mention them in bromeliads. Observations in treetops are hard to do and, looking at their breeding behaviour, it is expected many live high up in the trees.
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| Care and breeding |
D.ventrimaculatus has to be kept in groups or pairs in high vivaria. They like to climb through the plants, mainly bromeliads. A vivarium of 50 x 50 x 60 (l x d x h) is a good size for a group of 4-5 animals, but breeding couples have been seen in vivaria of 30 x 30 x 30 cm. Note the intolerance of the males! High humidity and a day time temperature of about 25ºC. They feed on all kinds of small insects in high amounts. The frog is mainly active in the morning and late afternoon. Females are a bit rounder, but the soft buzzing call of the male is the only real difference. If the female carries eggs she will walk up to the calling male, after which the couple starts turning around each other and clean the place where they want to lay their eggs. This behaviour has been described by Bechter and Lecure (1982) in detail. The eggs are placed on a leaves of bromeliads on the edge of water. The 2 to 10 eggs are usually laid on the leave of a bromeliad close to the edge of water. Supposedly the male leaves his sperm into the water. After 12-14 days the eggs hatch and are brought to the funnel of a bromeliad by the male. The larvae are released one by one, although more of them climb on his back. At 22-23°C metamorphosis takes about 8 weeks. The froglets can be raised on mites, springtails and small fruit flies. Within a year they are full grown and ready to breed.
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| Foto's |
The foto's published here are from myself © Marc van Doorn
The foto's published here with the kind permission of © Erik Poelman
The foto's ( with the copyright mark ) published here with the kind permission of www.pumilio.com ©
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