Oophaga is a genus of poison-dart frogs containing twelve species, many of which were formerly placed in the genus Dendrobates.[1] The frogs are distributed in Central and South America, from Nicaragua south through the El Chocó to northern Ecuador (at elevations below 1200m (3,900feet)).[1] [2] Their habitats vary with some species being arboreal while other being terrestrial, but the common feature is that their tadpoles are obligate egg feeders.[1] [3] Most species in this genus are seriously threatened and O. speciosa is already extinct.[4]
Oophaga, Greek for "egg eater" (oon, Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: phagos),[5] [6] is descriptive of the tadpoles' diet.[7] [8]
While presumably all dendrobatids show parental care, this is unusually advanced in Oophaga: the tadpoles feed exclusively on trophic (unfertilized) eggs supplied as food by the mother; the father is not involved.[1] [9] Through the eggs, the mother also passes defensive toxins to the tadpoles: Oophaga pumilio tadpoles experimentally fed with eggs from alkaloid-free frogs did not contain alkaloids.[10]
There are twelve species in this genus:[2]
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oophaga anchicayensis (Posso-Terranova and Andrés, 2018) | Chocó region of northwestern Colombia | |||
| Oophaga andresi (Posso-Terranova and Andrés, 2018) | Cocorro | Columbia | ||
| Oophaga arborea (Myers, Daly, and Martínez, 1984) | Panama | |||
| Oophaga granulifera (Taylor, 1958) | Costa Rica and Panama | |||
| Oophaga histrionica (Berthold, 1845) | El Chocó region of western Colombia | |||
| Oophaga lehmanni (Myers and Daly, 1976) | western Colombia | |||
| Oophaga occultator (Myers and Daly, 1976) | La Brea poison frog | Cordillera Occidental in the Cauca Department of Colombia | ||
| Oophaga pumilio (Schmidt, 1857) | eastern central Nicaragua through Costa Rica and northwestern Panama | |||
| Oophaga solanensis (Posso-Terranova and Andrés, 2018) | Koe-koe | Northwestern region of Colombia, on the western banks of the Atrato and san Juan rivers | ||
| Oophaga speciosa (Schmidt, 1857) | Cordillera de Talamanca, western Panama (extinct) | |||
| Oophaga sylvatica (Funkhouser, 1956) | southwestern Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. | |||
| Oophaga vicentei (Jungfer, Weygoldt, and Juraske, 1996) | Veraguas, Bocas del Toro, Colón and Coclé Provinces of central Panama |
Oophaga may be kept as pets by experienced amphibian keepers, but they are challenging to breed in captivity as only parents can feed and care for tadpoles.[11]