Reptile & Amphibian Forums

take 2

That looks perfect for red-eyes. You could also cover the pots up about half way with gravel and finish off with a sphagnum substrate and leaf litter. These larger plant leaves would also support one of the bigger frogs that like to climb such as azureus (Dendrobates tinctorius azureus) or my favorite of all, a couple of the galactonotus (now Adlephobates galactonotus.) With some patience, you can find a choice of colors--yellow, red and orange morphs.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

yah I'd love to put some darts in there, maybe even some thumbnails.. but my budget isn't all that high..
I'll probably just go with a red eye

did you say Adlephobates galactonotus? not dendrobates? i'm confuzzled. when did that happen?
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RES
WTF
FBT
Russian Tortoise
Hingeback tortoise
Leos
Lawsons Dragon
Aussi
Ocelot Gecko
0.0.3 Vietnamese Mossy Treefrogs
Oregon Newt
Japanese FBN
American Bullfrog
0.0.4 D. tinctorius
D. auratus
D. leucomelas
1.1D. imitator
0.0.2 imitator intermedius
1.1.1D. lamasi
Grandis Day Gecko
Mali Uro
0.0.4 Hourglass Treefrogs
Hedgehog, bunnies, dog, fish, crawfish...

It happened because in 2006 a group of systematic taxonomists (Grant, et. al.) finished reclassifying the entire Dendrobatidae, even adding superfamilies and subfamilies, along with new generic names for many of them. The new book POISON FROGS, Biology, Species and Captive Husbandry (Lotters, Jungfer, Henkel and Schmidt) have used this system.

This is going to confuse Hobbyists and old dogs like I am for awhile, and there will probably be objections from other systematic categorizers, and we might expect other changes, especially when DNA becomes more affordable and the lineages can be traced more accurately. In the meantime, we may have to put up with it. Fortunately, these guys did retain most of the species names, so a pumilio is still a pumilio, although it is Oophaga pumilio. The thumbnails are now Ranitomeya, but it's still an imitator, amazonica, biolat, etc. And galacts are still galactonotus, although they are no longer Dendrobates, but Adelphobates. Castaneoticus are also now Adelphobates. Phyllobates are pretty much unchanged, but the only frogs left in the Dendrobates are auratus, leucomelas, and tinctorius. Azureus is now considered a morph of tinctorius.

I wonder how taxonomists earn a living--really. Who pays them?
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

what!? thats so absurd. i had no idea about all those changes. i have no idea who pays them, i certainly wouldn't. i wonder if people will actually use those names or continue just using Dendrobates. what do you think?
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RES
WTF
FBT
Russian Tortoise
Hingeback tortoise
Leos
Lawsons Dragon
Aussi
Ocelot Gecko
0.0.3 Vietnamese Mossy Treefrogs
Oregon Newt
Japanese FBN
American Bullfrog
0.0.4 D. tinctorius
D. auratus
D. leucomelas
1.1D. imitator
0.0.2 imitator intermedius
1.1.1D. lamasi
Grandis Day Gecko
Mali Uro
0.0.4 Hourglass Treefrogs
Hedgehog, bunnies, dog, fish, crawfish...

so now people who are new to the hobby are going to think that you can breed azeurus and a cobolt tinctorius?
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RES
WTF
FBT
Russian Tortoise
Hingeback tortoise
Leos
Lawsons Dragon
Aussi
Ocelot Gecko
0.0.3 Vietnamese Mossy Treefrogs
Oregon Newt
Japanese FBN
American Bullfrog
0.0.4 D. tinctorius
D. auratus
D. leucomelas
1.1D. imitator
0.0.2 imitator intermedius
1.1.1D. lamasi
Grandis Day Gecko
Mali Uro
0.0.4 Hourglass Treefrogs
Hedgehog, bunnies, dog, fish, crawfish...

"One of the aims of modern systematics is to bundle groups and units in systematic categories in a manner that reflect natural units in an evolutionary sense. The unfortunate part in the quest is that there is usually too little information available, and the existing data can often be interpreted differently or is excessively generalized. It is therefore not uncommon that the addition of newly available traits, or simply a reevaluation of known ones, for example, leads to the abandonment of the established generic name. The same applies to the names of species, families and so forth." (Poison Frogs, etc., pg. 37-38) There follows a very long explanation of why each reclassification was done, based on multiple criteria, including molecular studies in some instances, a tree-based DNA taxonomy on those that have been tested. We're probably going to see other changes as this is completed.

As far as varieties or what we often call "color morphs" within a species, they do give a list of common vernacular names of local varieties of Dendrobates tinctorius and their probable origin, but state: "Some of the varieties are possible crossbreeds produced in captivity. Names are of no scientific relevance as they do not conform to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and cannot really be defined."

So what we call azureus is now simply a different color morph of the tinctorius from a specific area, and would still be subject to our own ethical rules of attempting to keep these as distinct as possible with our captive breeding.

In the long run it does seem to have sorted out many with distinguishing features, such as the obligate egg layers from the thumbnails under two different genera, for example. I suppose we can get used to it. Even prior to the publication of the changes, most dart specialists already considered azureus as a morph of tinctorius.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

it will be much easier for people jsut getting into the hobby to group "dendroboates", but hard for the people who are allready used to it. the term dendrobates will probably get thinned out sooner or later, or just used a lot less. is it politically incorrect to say Dendrobates imitator, for example? that will take some getting used to. thanks for the info Patty!
-----
RES
WTF
FBT
Russian Tortoise
Hingeback tortoise
Leos
Lawsons Dragon
Aussi
Ocelot Gecko
0.0.3 Vietnamese Mossy Treefrogs
Oregon Newt
Japanese FBN
American Bullfrog
0.0.4 D. tinctorius
D. auratus
D. leucomelas
1.1D. imitator
0.0.2 imitator intermedius
1.1.1D. lamasi
Grandis Day Gecko
Mali Uro
0.0.4 Hourglass Treefrogs
Hedgehog, bunnies, dog, fish, crawfish...

While it may appear to make sense it shouldn't be embraced as the end just yet as there are beginning to be serious questions being asked about a number of the revisions. I would expect to see other changes in the near future..

See http://www.amphibiatree.org/?q=node/253 for example

Ed