Scientists have found a new species of the poison dart frog that is about the size of a fingernail. The animal, which has the scientific name Andinobates geminisae, is a new type of frog species more commonly known for being the source of poison for blowdarts.
Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Institute and the Universidad Autonoma de Chiqui in Panama and the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia found the bright orange frog on a hilly area in Donoso, Panama. According to the team behind the discovery, the new species is endemic to the Carribean rainforest. It is also the fourth species from the same genus that resides in Panama.
Specimen for the Andinobates geminisae was first collected on February 21, 2011. The research team found the new species in the waters on Rio Cano in the Donoso District of Colon Province. The frogs were primarily collected by Samuel Valdes, the former environment office director for wet infrastructure firm MWH Global and his field assistant Carlos de la Cruz. Their discovery was eventually supplemented by specimens from Rio Cocle del Norte and Rio Belen, collected by biologists Marcos Ponce and Abel Batista.
Batista and Ponce had known about the poisonous amphibian for years, but were uncertain if the frog was only a variety of the Oophaga pumilio, another poisonous species.
"Based on morphological characteristics of the adult and the tadpole, I thought it might be a new species of Andinobates," Smithsonian herpetologist Cesar Jaramillo said.
The researchers conducted DNA sequencing to determine if this was true. According to the team's study, which was published in the scientific journal Zootaxa, A. geminisae is different from other frogs of the same species because of two factors. It is smaller than other dendrobatids that inhabit the same area, such as the Oophaga pumilio (strawberry poison dart frog). It also has a uniformly orange smooth skin and a distinctly male advertisement call, two traits that are not characteristic of its group.
Since the specimens were only found in one area, the researchers suspect that A. geminisae is under threat from habitat loss and collection for the pet trade. The team has called for a special conservation program to guarantee the survival of the species.
