Atelopus varius

Ge­o­graphic Range

South­ern Cen­tral Amer­ica (Costa Rica) south into north­west­ern South Amer­ica (Ca­pula, 1989; Staniszewski, 1995).

Habi­tat

A.​varius in­hab­its the moist en­vi­ron­ment of the rain­for­est floor, from low­lands up to the cloud forests. They often occur in the vicin­ity of streams, where they breed (Ca­pula, 1989; Hayes et al., no date; Staniszewski, 1995).

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Atelo­pus var­ius is a small (2.4-- 3.8 cm; 1-- 1.5 in) slim-bod­ied, pointy-snouted toad of highly vari­able col­oration. Dor­sal color is usu­ally black or brown over­laid with a mo­saic of spots and streaks that can be al­most any com­bi­na­tion of or­ange, red, yel­low, blue, or green. Some­times the lighter col­ors pre­dom­i­nate. The belly is mar­bled with white, yel­low, or­ange, and/or red. The toes are pointed, with­out discs (Staniszewski, 1995; Hayes et al., un­dated).

De­vel­op­ment

Re­pro­duc­tion

A.​varius re­pro­duces mostly along streams and other sources of mov­ing water. Dur­ing am­plexus, the fe­male de­posit 30-- 75 eggs in long strings in shal­low water, as the male fer­til­izes them. The eggs hatch in about 36 hours. Tad­poles have a flat­tened body and an ab­dom­i­nal sucker which keeps them from being swept away in the cur­rent (Ca­pula, 1989; Staniszewski, 1995).

  • Key Reproductive Features
  • gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)

Lifes­pan/Longevity

  • Average lifespan
    Status: captivity
    10 years
    AnAge

Be­hav­ior

Males lack vocal sacs, and at­tract fe­males by vi­sual dis­plays which can in­clude leg and head twitch­ing, stamp­ing the ground, and hop­ping in place (Staniszewski, 1995).

Food Habits

A.​varius eats small in­sects such as flies and gnats (Ca­pula, 1989).

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Har­le­quin toads are pop­u­lar in the com­mer­cial pet trade, de­spite being very dif­fi­cult to main­tain suc­cess­fully (Staniszewski, 1995).

They are un­doubt­edly im­por­tant in­sect preda­tors of the for­est floor.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

A.​varius has begun to dis­ap­pear from places in Costa Rica where it was com­mon only a few years ago, and is con­sid­ered an en­dan­gered species. Its main habi­tat is rain­for­est and these forests are being de­stroyed at an alarm­ing rate; in ad­di­tion, these lit­tle toads may be vul­ner­a­ble to mys­te­ri­ous fun­gal in­fec­tions which seem to be af­fect­ing frogs in many parts of the world (Ca­pula, 1989; Staniszewsli, 1995; USGS, 1999). One sub­species, A. v. zeteki, is listed on Ap­pen­dix I of the CITES Treaty, and is con­sid­ered en­dan­gered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser­vice (Lev­ell, 1997).

Other Com­ments

A.​varius has poi­so­nous glan­du­lar skin se­cre­tions which are toxic or re­pel­lent to po­ten­tial preda­tors. This toad's bright col­ors un­doubt­edly serve as a warn­ing of its tox­i­c­ity (Ca­pula, 1989; Staniszewski, 1995).

This anu­ran is some­times called the Har­le­quin Frog, but its re­la­tion­ship within the true toad fam­ily (Bu­fonidae) seems well-ac­cepted (Staniszewski, 1995).

Con­trib­u­tors

Heather Kundinger (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity, James Hard­ing (ed­i­tor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity.

Glossary

Neotropical

living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America.

World Map

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

ectothermic

animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

metamorphosis

A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

rainforest

rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.

Ref­er­ences

Ca­pula, M. 1989. Guide to Rep­tiles and Am­phib­ians of the World. New York: Simon and Schus­ter.

Hayes, M., J. Pounds, W. Tim­mer­man. un­dated (Herp. Circ. No. 17). An An­no­tated List and Guide to the Am­phib­ians and Rep­tiles of Mon­teverde, Costa Rica. Tyler, Texas: Soc. for the Study of Am­phib­ians and Rep­tiles.

Lev­ell, J. 1997. A Field Guide to Rep­tiles and the Law. Lanes­boro, Min­nesota: Ser­pent's Tale.

Staniszewski, M. 1995. Am­phib­ians in Cap­tiv­ity. Nep­tune, New Jer­sey: T.F.H. Publ., Inc..

U.S. Ge­o­log­i­cal Sur­vey, 1999. USGS Is­sues Wildlife Health Alert: Chytrid Fun­gus In­fec­tion As­so­ci­ated With Deaths of Threat­ened Bo­real Toads in Col­orado. Froglog: Newslet­ter of the De­clin­ing Am­phib­ian Pop­u­la­tions Task Force, Dec. 1999: No. 36: 1-2.