Dendrobates

{{Short description|Genus of amphibians}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Dendrobates tinctorius - Karlsruhe Zoo 05.jpg

| image_caption = Dendrobates tinctorius

| taxon = Dendrobates

| authority = Wagler, 1830

| type_species = Dendrobates tinctorius

| type_species_authority = Cuvier, 1797

| diversity = 5 species (see text)

| range_map = Dendrobates mapa.png

| range_map_caption = Distribution of the five Dendrobates species

}}

Dendrobates is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America. It once contained numerous species, but most originally placed in this genus have been split off into other genera such as Adelphobates, Ameerega, Andinobates, Epipedobates, Excidobates, Oophaga, Phyllobates and Ranitomeya (essentially all the brightly marked poison dart frogs; i.e. excluding the duller genera in the family like Colostethus and Hyloxalus), leaving only five large to medium-sized species in the genus Dendrobates.{{cite journal |author1=Grant, T.|author2=Frost, D. R.|author3=Caldwell, J. P.|author4=Gagliardo, R.|author5=Haddad, C. F. B.|author6=Kok, P. J. R.|author7=Means, D. B.|author8=Noonan, B. P.|author9=Schargel, W. E.|author10=Wheeler, W. C. |year=2006 |title=Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives (Amphibia: Athesphatanura: Dendrobatidae) |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=299 |issue=299 |pages=1–262|doi=10.1206/0003-0090(2006)299[1:PSODFA]2.0.CO;2|citeseerx=10.1.1.693.8392|hdl=2246/5803|s2cid=82263880 }}{{BioRef|ASW6 |family=Dendrobatidae|year=2020 |access-date=17 February 2020}} All the other genera used to be grouped in with Dendrobates because it was previously thought that all brightly colored poison dart frogs came from the same ancestor but this has since been proven to be incorrect.{{Cite journal|last1=Santos|first1=Juan Carlos|last2=Coloma|first2=Luis A.|last3=Cannatella|first3=David C.|date=2003-10-28|title=Multiple, recurring origins of aposematism and diet specialization in poison frogs|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=100|issue=22|pages=12792–12797|doi=10.1073/pnas.2133521100|issn=0027-8424|pmid=14555763|pmc=240697|doi-access=free}} Dendrobates and Phyllobates evolved conspicuous coloration from the same common ancestor but not the same as any of the other genera listed above.{{Cite journal|last1=Carvajal-Castro|first1=Juan D.|last2=Vargas-Salinas|first2=Fernando|last3=Casas-Cardona|first3=Santiago|last4=Rojas|first4=Bibiana|last5=Santos|first5=Juan C.|date=2021-09-24|title=Aposematism facilitates the diversification of parental care strategies in poison frogs|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97206-6|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=11|issue=1|page=19047|doi=10.1038/s41598-021-97206-6|pmid=34561489|pmc=8463664|bibcode=2021NatSR..1119047C |issn=2045-2322}}

There is accumulating evidence that Dendrobates are diet specialists and sequester the toxin found on their skin from their diet. It has been found that diet specialization evolved in tandem with conspicuous coloration in the case of Dendrobates.{{Cite journal|last1=Santos|first1=Juan Carlos|last2=Coloma|first2=Luis A.|last3=Cannatella|first3=David C.|date=2003-10-28|title=Multiple, recurring origins of aposematism and diet specialization in poison frogs|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=100|issue=22|pages=12792–12797|doi=10.1073/pnas.2133521100|issn=0027-8424|pmid=14555763|pmc=240697|doi-access=free}}

The generic name Dendrobates is derived {{ety|grc|{{noitalic|δένδρον}} déndron|tree||{{noitalic|βάτης}} bátēs|one that treads}}, meaning ‘tree climber’.{{cite book|last=Dodd|first=C. Kenneth|title=Frogs of the United States and Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Hwfz9P9gS0C&pg=PR20|volume=1|date=2013|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=978-1-4214-0633-6|page=20}}

Dendrobates mostly live on the forest floor. They lay their eggs in damp leaf litter on the forest floor. After the eggs hatch, some species of Dendrobates carry their tadpoles on their backs up to the rainforest canopy so they can grow in the pools of water on top of Bromeliaceae, and feed their tadpoles with unfertilized eggs.{{Cite book |last=Forsyth |first=Adrian |title=Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America |last2=Miyata |first2=Ken |publisher=Touchstone |year=1984 |isbn=0-684-18710-8 |location=New York, NY |pages=181-183}}