Cream-backed poison frog
species of amphibian
The cream-backed poison frog (Hyloxalus subpunctatus) is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical, high-altitude grassland, shrub-dominated wetlands, swamps, intermittent freshwater marshes, rural gardens, urban areas, and heavily degraded former forests. The cream-backed poison frog is one of the less-toxic of the family. It has undergone several name changes since its discovery. Originally called Dendrobates subpunctatus, its name was changed to Colostethus subpuctatus once the family Dendrobatidae underwent a division of species and genera other than Dendrobates were coined. Recently, minor skeletal differences have separated the cream-backed poison frog from the rocket frogs, and placed it in another genus entirely, Hyloxalus.
Toxin
Like many of the genus Hyloxalus, H. subpunctatus possesses fairly weak toxins, compared to those of other dendrobatids. It may be one of the most primitive of dendrobatids, as it has only begun to develop skin alkaloids and is still fairly drab in coloration. Its poison is already an effective defense mechanism; if tasted by a predator, the alkaloids in the frog's skin cause extreme pain and unpleasant taste. This will usually discourage a predator from attacking a cream-backed poison frog more than once.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cream-backed poison frog” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.