Though this species is not the one native people use for darts, they are highly prized in the pet trade. They are also insectivores eating ants and other small pests.
This is a large poison frog, commonly 40 to 50 mm with some females reaching 60 mm. This is a bright blue frog with two broad yellow stripes on the back, these stripes are connected by cross bands to produce 2 to 3 oval blue islands down the middle of the back. The arms and legs are black or deep blue with many bright yellow or black spots. Sometimes the yellow is replaced with white or the two yellow stripes fuse across the back to produce a frog with a solid yellow back on a bright blue or black background--they are truly striking animals. It has a typical erect posture and a distinct tympanum about half the diameter of the eye. In theory males can be distinguished from females by having larger finger discs that are cut straighter across the tips. Additionally, males are somewhat territorial and may wrestle, but so do females on occasion. Of course only males call. (Walls, 1994)
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Dendrobates tinctorius are creatures of humid, usually wet habitats, and their skins are not waxy enough to prevent evaporation in dry air. Often it is found in heavy vines one to two meters above the ground where its bright yellow stripes stand out in the darkness of the forest. (Walls, 1994)
Terrestrial Biomes: rainforest
Dendrobates tinctorius inhabits small isolated pockets in French Guinea and northeastern Brazil. (Obst, 1988)
Biogeographic Regions: neotropical (Native )
All Dendrobatids are insectivores. The diet consists mainly of ants, termites, and other small insects and small spiders. Adults tend to actively search and hunt down prey. (Obst, 1988 and Walls, 1994)
Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis
Because of the unusual nature of forests in Guianas, with relatively dry savannahs and high mountain plateaus, no two populations of D. tinctorius are exactly alike(Walls,1994. One or two cases of overcollecting could wipe out a whole population. A violent storm or clear cutting could also have negative effects.
CITES: appendix ii
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Both the common and scientific names of this frog come from an old story introduced to Europe along with the first preserved specimens of the frog. For over two centuries there have been legends that Amerindians of various tribes in Guianas and the Amazon use animal concoctions of various types to change the plain green feathers of parrots into red feathers. Dendrobates tinctorius was pinpointed in these legends as the frog used in the Guianas to produce the color change, a technique called tapirage. Supposedly the living frog or a tincture of frog skin and blood was rubbed on the selected area of the parrot where a color change was wanted. The parrot had to be young, and its original green feathers had to be plucked. When the new feathers grew in, they would magically be bright red or perhaps yellow. In effect, they would have been dyed. (Walls, 1994)
Amplexus occurs always on land, never in water. Eight to ten eggs are laid and the male ejaculates the sperm directly over the eggs. The male will carry the nearly hatched tadpoles on his back to water. There tends to be considerable sibling aggression among the larvae. (Obst, 1988) Dozens of tadpoles may be placed in one large water hole by several males. Tadpoles reach transformation size in about ten weeks and feed on almost anything. (Walls, 1994)
Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
Recent work has indicated that the long recognized species Dendrobates azureus is actually just a variant of the highly polymorphic D. tinctorius, making the name D. azureus a no longer valid junior synonym (Wollenberg et al. 2006).
The dyeing dart frog, dyeing poison dart frog, tinc (a nickname given by those in the hobby of keeping dart frogs), or dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) is a species of poison dart frog. It is among the largest species, reaching lengths of 50 mm (2.0 in). This species is distributed throughout the eastern portion of the Guiana Shield and Venezuela, including parts of Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and nearly all of French Guiana.
The specific name, tinctorius, comes, however not from the variety of colors, but from the legends of some indigenous tribes. It has been said that tribe members used the frog poisons to cause green parrot feathers to grow different colors.
Like most species of the genus Dendrobates, D. tinctorius is highly toxic if consumed. It produces pumiliotoxins and allopumiliotoxins that the frog uses for self-defense. While pumiliotoxins are weaker than their derivative allopumiliotoxins and the batrachotoxins secreted by Phyllobates species, they are sufficiently toxic to discourage most animals from feeding on them. In the case of D. tinctorius, the toxins cause pain, cramping, and stiffness when the frogs are handled roughly. Due to the toxins of the frogs, animals that feed on D. tinctorius will typically learn to associate the bright colours of such frogs with the vile taste and pain that occurs after a frog is ingested. As it is such a variable species, different color morphs of D. tinctorius have varying degrees of toxicity and many can cause serious effects on humans including death.
In the northwest of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, there was a report of envenomation by this species. The patients were two photographers, 47 and 30 years old. One photographer quickly captured the frog and held it for about five seconds with his own hands, before releasing it and washing his hands in a nearby stream. The other photographer kept the frog from moving by placing both his hands on top. Neither of them suffered hand injuries. Both photographed the tree-frog for about five minutes without touching it again. However, 20 minutes after the first contact, the photographer who initially handled it began to feel numbness in his right arm, mainly at the height of the forearm. The other photographer, who after taking photos had touched his mouth without first washing his hands, felt a slight numbness in his lower lip. After 40 minutes, they no longer felt symptoms. Their symptoms could have been aggravated if the contact with the animal had lasted longer or if there had been a wound at the points of contact.
The main alkaloid carried by this species is pumiliotoxin (PTX), which is highly toxic. PTX interferes with the muscle contractions by affecting the calcium channels, causing locomotor difficulties, clonic convulsions, paralysis or even death. D. tinctorius toxin can lead to cardio-respiratory problems, mainly through the neurotoxic action, which affects the sodium and potassium channels, impairing the muscle contraction, and consequently, the heart and breathing muscles.[3]
The dyeing poison dart frog is large for a poison dart frog, but may be smaller than Phyllobates terribilis and Ameerega trivittata. Many small forms of D. tinctorius reach 3.5 cm long; most morphs are around 5 cm in length or slightly bigger; some of the larger morphs may exceed 7 cm, although large ones are usually closer to 5.5 cm long. For some time, captive individuals were thought to be incapable of reaching the sizes of wild specimens; however, later evidence suggested captive individuals do not reach their maximum potential size possibly due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. More recently, breeders had success raising dyeing poison dart frogs to very large sizes.
Dendrobates tinctorius is one of the most variable of all poison dart frogs. Typically, the body is primarily black, with an irregular pattern of yellow or white stripes running along the back, flanks, chest, head, and belly. In some morphs, however, the body may be primarily blue (as in the "azureus" morph, formerly treated as a separate species), primarily yellow, or primarily white. The legs range from pale blue, sky blue or blue-gray to royal blue, cobalt blue, navy blue, or royal purple and are typically peppered with small black dots. The "Matecho" morph is almost entirely yellow and with some black, with only a few specks of white on the toes. Another unique morph, the citronella morph, is primarily golden yellow with tiny splotches of black on its belly and royal blue legs that have no black dots.
Males are typically smaller and more slender than females, but they have larger toe discs. The toe discs of female dyeing poison dart frogs are circular while those of the males are heart-shaped. Also the females have arched backs as opposed to males who have curved ones.
It exists in discrete patches throughout this region, being restricted to "highland" (up to 350 m (1,150 ft)) areas. While this species can be found at sea level, individuals have been collected at the base of nearby hills or mountains. The isolation of populations has presumably occurred as a result of the erosion of these highland areas and the seasonal inundation of the inter-patch areas. Study shows that Dendrobates tinctorius tadpoles can survive in pools having a high level of KH, vertical height of 15 meters and salinity up to 955 ppm.[4]
The species encompasses a great diversity of color and patterning variants (subspecies and morphs). Some batrachologists suspect that some of these are actually different species.
D. tinctorius 'Patricia'
D. tinctorius
D. tinctorius
D. tinctorius (left) with Epipedobates anthonyi
D. tinctorius 'Giant Orange'
D. tinctorius 'Citronella'
The dyeing dart frog, dyeing poison dart frog, tinc (a nickname given by those in the hobby of keeping dart frogs), or dyeing poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius) is a species of poison dart frog. It is among the largest species, reaching lengths of 50 mm (2.0 in). This species is distributed throughout the eastern portion of the Guiana Shield and Venezuela, including parts of Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and nearly all of French Guiana.
