Vicente's Poison Frog

The Vicente's poison frog impresses, like some other members of the Oophaga genus, with its wide variety of colorations and patterns, ranging from red and black markings to green and even blue and black.

In its courtship behavior as well, Oophaga vicentei presents itself as a typical representative of the Oophaga genus. The male attracts receptive females with its calls. As soon as it spots a female, it switches to a different call type. As with other Oophaga species, the male then leads the female to the egg-laying site—usually the smooth base of a bromeliad leaf—while continuing to emit its advertisement call intermittently. At the laying site, the male begins wiping the leaf with its hind legs. The female mimics this behavior by performing circular movements with her abdomen pressed against the leaf. In doing so, she moistens the surface, a process that can take more than thirty minutes. During this time, the male usually remains passive until he eventually climbs onto the female. Once their cloacas are in contact, sperm transfer likely occurs. Afterwards, the male leaves the egg-laying site and often resumes calling from nearby leaves. Only then does the female lay the eggs.

After hatching, the female transports the larvae individually on her back to water-filled leaf axils, such as those of bromeliads. Every two to eight days, she visits each larva again to deposit nutritive eggs. As soon as she appears at the edge of the leaf axil, the larva begins to move in a wriggling manner. The female then climbs backward into the axil and lays two to six unfertilized eggs. During this feeding phase, the female does not lay any further fertilized clutches.

The Vicente’s Poison Frog is classified as Endangered. The main threats are deforestation and forest loss due to large-scale open-pit mining, cattle ranching, the expansion of agricultural land, and residential development. It is a highly attractive species that occurs in several color variants and is in demand in the pet trade. Over-collection for the pet trade could become a potential threat in the future.

Distribution