Editing Poison dart frog (section)

{{Short description|Family of amphibians}}
{{Redirect|Poison frog|other frogs that are poisonous to humans|Poisonous frog}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Good article}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|name=Poison dart frogs (Dendrobatidae)
|image=Blue-poison.dart.frog.and.Yellow-banded.dart.frog.arp.jpg
|image_caption=''[[Blue poison dart frog|Dendrobates tinctorius "azureus"]]'' (top) and ''[[Yellow-banded poison dart frog|Dendrobates leucomelas]]'' (bottom).
|display_parents=2
|taxon=Dendrobatidae
|authority=[[Edward Drinker Cope|Cope]], 1865
|range_map=Dendrobatidae range.PNG|range_map_caption=Distribution of Dendrobatidae (in black)
|subdivision_ranks=Subfamilies and genera
|subdivision=
* Colostethinae <small>(Cope, 1867)</small>
** ''[[Ameerega]]''
** ''[[Colostethus]]''
** ''[[Epipedobates]]''
** ''[[Leucostethus]]''
** ''[[Silverstoneia]]''
* [[Dendrobatinae]] <small>(Cope, 1865)</small>
** ''[[Adelphobates]]''
** ''[[Andinobates]]''
** ''[[Dendrobates]]''
** ''[[Excidobates]]''
** ''[[Minyobates]]''
** ''[[Oophaga]]''
** ''[[Phyllobates]]''
** ''[[Ranitomeya]]''<!-- Zootaxa1823:1,1857:66. -->
* [[Hyloxalinae]] <small>(Grant et al., 2006)<ref name="Grant" /></small>
** ''[[Ectopoglossus]]''
** ''[[Hyloxalus]]''
** ''[[Paruwrobates]]''
}}

'''Poison dart frog''' (also known as '''dart-poison frog''', '''poison frog''' or formerly known as '''poison arrow frog''') is the [[common name]] of a group of [[frog]]s in the [[Family (biology)|family]] '''Dendrobatidae''' which are native to tropical [[Central America|Central]] and [[South America]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/antisense/papers/HerpMono1993a.pdf|title=The Major Clades of Frogs|date=1993|publisher=Herpetological Monographs|last1=Ford|first1=L.|last2=Cannatella|first2=D.}}</ref> These species are [[Diurnality|diurnal]] and often have brightly colored bodies. This bright coloration is correlated with the [[toxicity]] of the species, making them [[Aposematism|aposematic]]. Some species of the family Dendrobatidae exhibit extremely bright coloration along with high toxicity — a feature derived from their diet of ants, mites and termites<ref name=SantosEtAl03/><ref name="Caldwell-1996">{{Cite journal|title=The evolution of myrmecophagy and its correlates in poison frogs (family Dendrobatidae)|last=Caldwell|first=J. P.|date=1996|journal=Journal of Zoology|doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.1996.tb05487.x|volume=240|pages=75–101}}</ref>— while species which eat a much larger variety of prey have [[Crypsis|cryptic]] coloration with minimal to no amount of observed toxicity.<ref name=SantosEtAl03/><ref name="Caldwell-1996" /> Many species of this family are [[Threatened species|threatened]] due to human infrastructure encroaching on their habitats.

These amphibians are often called "dart frogs" due to the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|aboriginal South Americans]]' use of their [[Template:Poison frog alkaloids|toxic secretions]] to poison the tips of [[blowdart]]s. However, out of over 170 species, only four have been documented as being used for this purpose ([[curare]] plants are more commonly used for aboriginal South American darts) all of which come from the genus ''[[Phyllobates]]'', which is characterized by the relatively large size and high levels of toxicity of its members.<ref name="amphibiaweb1">{{cite web|url=http://amphibiaweb.org/lists/Dendrobatidae.shtml |title=AmphibiaWeb – Dendrobatidae |publisher=AmphibiaWeb |access-date=2008-10-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url        =http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Dendrobatidae.html
|title      =Dendrobatidae
|access-date =2008-09-18
|author     =Heying, H.
|year       =2003
|publisher  =Animal Diversity Web}}</ref>