Colostethus is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America, from Panama south to Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru. Their common name is rocket frogs,[1] but this name may refer to frogs in other genera and families, following the taxonomic revision of the genus in 2006.[2]

Colostethus
Colostethus pratti
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Dendrobatidae
Subfamily: Colostethinae
Genus: Colostethus
Cope, 1866
Diversity
12 species (see text)
Synonyms
  • Prostherapis Cope, 1868

Taxonomy

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Formerly, the genus Colostethus was found to be "rampantly nonmonophyletic" in the taxonomic revision of poison dart frogs published in 2006.[3] Before the revision, it had 138 species, but this was reduced to 18 species, after species of the former Colostethus were distributed among eight genera in two families, that is, in Dendrobatidae and in the newly established family Aromobatidae (e..g., Anomaloglossus). Within Dendrobatidae, many former Colostethus species were moved to Hyloxalus, while three were moved to the new genus Silverstoneia.[3] Nevertheless, Colostethus is still considered paraphyletic because some Colostethus are more closely related to Ameerega than to other Colostethus.[1]

Description

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Dorsal colouration is cryptic, brown. A pale oblique lateral stripe is present (but may be broken or incomplete). Dorsal skin is granular posteriorly. In adult males, third finger is swollen.[3]

Species

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There are currently 12 species in this genus:[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Colostethus Cope, 1866". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  2. ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2015). "Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  3. ^ a b c Grant, T.; Frost, D. R.; Caldwell, J. P.; Gagliardo, R.; Haddad, C. F. B.; Kok, P. J. R.; Means, D. B.; Noonan, B. P.; Schargel, W. E. & Wheeler, W. C. (2006). "Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives (Amphibia: Athesphatanura: Dendrobatidae)" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 299: 1–262. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)299[1:PSODFA]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 82263880.
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