Hyloxalus subpunctatus, also known as the cream-backed poison frog, is a species of frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

 in the Dendrobatidae family.
It is endemic to Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s are subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

, shrub-dominated wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s, swamp

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

s, intermittent freshwater marsh

Marsh

In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....

es, rural gardens, urban area

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

s, and heavily degraded former forest. 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

Dendrobates

Dendrobates is a genus of poison dart frogs native to South America. It once contained all poison dart frogs; until recently, frogs such as Dendrobates pumilio and Dendrobates terribilis were scientifically valid names...

 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 has separated the cream-backed poison frog from the rocket frogs, and placced it in another genus entirely, Hyloxalus

Hyloxalus

Hyloxalus is a genus of poison dart frogs. The genus is distributed in Central and South America, from Panama south to Peru , along with Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. Species also inhabit the eastern foothills of the Andes in Bolivia to Venezuela, east to the upper Amazon Basin...

.

Toxin

Like many of the Hyloxalus genus, 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. However, H. subpunctatus is still vulnerable to more determined predators, such as snakes, which is further evidence that it may be a fairly young species compared to other inedible or even deadly dendrobatids.

Description

The cream-backed poison frog is one of the smallest dendrobatids, reaching a length of 2 cm when fully grown. As stated above, it has poorly developed alkaloid poisons in its skin that make it unpalatable to predators, but it still mostly depends on its body camouflage for protection. Like many of the Hyloxalus genus, it has fairly drab coloration. Its main body is wood brown, with cream-colored stripes running down the length of its back (hence the frog's common name) and flanks that range from dark, smoky gray to inky black. H. subpunctatus may be one of the most primitive poison dart frogs, as it bears several similarities to hylids, such as long, narrow toes with suckerlike discs at the ends to help it grip leaves, slight webbing between its toes, and cryptic coloration. While hylids use the suckers on their toes to climb trees, the cream backed poison frog uses them to give it a good grip as it clambers through the leaf litter. Other dendrobatids lack webbing on their feet, and the discs at the tips of their toes are not adhesive. In addition, the cream-backed poison frog is one of the few species of dendrobatids that does not care for its young, another sign that it is a fairly primitive frog.