Ranitomeya is a genus of dart poison frogs found in Panama and South America south to Peru and Brazil, possibly into Bolivia.
Taxonomy In 2006 Grant et al. revised the systematics of poison dart frogs and placed many species formerly classified in the genera Dendrobates, Minyobates and Phyllobates in Ranitomeya. In 2011 Brown and colleagues, following other scientists who assumed the existence of two distinct clades in Ranitomeya, erected the genus Andinobates for 12 species of Ranitomeya.
Ranitomeya and Andinobates frogs can be distinguished from those in genera such as Dendrobates in that they are generally smaller, have more than two colors, and seem to glitter if viewed from certain angles. Ranitomeya is widespread in the Amazon basin, whereas Andinobates species are found only in the northern Andes down to Central America.
Description Adults measure no more than in snout–vent length and are typically brightly colored, often with bright yellow, red, or green dorsum that can be uniform in color or with stripes or dots. Also the throat has distinctive color, usually yellow, orange or red. Dorsal skin is smooth or weakly granular. The head is narrower than the body. Fingers and toes bear discs, with those on the fingers being large. Some species in the genus, such as R. variabilis, exhibit tadpole transport and cannibalistic behavior.
Threats Many Ranitomeya species are threatened by habitat loss and collection for the pet trade.
Species There are currently 18 accepted species in the genus Ranitomeya: Image Scientific name Distribution Ranitomeya aethereaKoch, Mônico, Dayrell, Ferreira, Dantas, Moravec, and Lima, 2025 Juruá River basin, western Brazil Ranitomeya amazonica(Schulte, 1999) northeastern Amazonian Peru (Loreto Region, including the type locality) and extreme southeastern Colombia (Amazonas Department), and expected in the adjacent Brazil, Venezuela; extreme southern Guyana; eastern French Guiana; the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil Ranitomeya aquamarinaMônico, Koch, Dayrell, Moravec and Lima, 2025 Juruá River basin, western Brazil Ranitomeya benedictaBrown, Twomey, Pepper, and Sanchez-Rodriguez, 2008 Ranitomeya cyanovittataPérez-Peña, Chávez, Twomey, and Brown, 2010 Pampas del Sacramento in southern Loreto and eastern San Martín Region, northeastern Peru Ranitomeya defleriTwomey and Brown, 2009 southeastern Colombia Ranitomeya fantastica(Boulenger, 1884) eastern Sierra del Divisor, Loreto, Peru Ranitomeya flavovittata(Schulte, 1999) northern San Martín and Loreto Regions, Peru Ranitomeya imitator(Schulte, 1986) Loreto Region, Peru Ranitomeya reticulata(Boulenger, 1884) eastern Peru. Ranitomeya sirensis(Aichinger, 1991) Amazon rainforest in Peru and Ecuador. Ranitomeya summersiBrown, Twomey, Pepper, and Sanchez-Rodriguez, 2008 central Huallaga River drainage and adjacent Cordillera Azul National Park in central Peru Ranitomeya toraroBrown, Caldwell, Twomey, Melo-Sampaio, and Souza, 2011 western Brazil in the states of Acre and Amazonas, and in the north of Rondônia state Ranitomeya uakarii(Brown, Schulte, and Summers, 2006) southern Peru (Madre de Dios), central Peru (Pachitea drainage), western Brazil (near Porto Walter), along the upper Amazon (in Peru and Colombia), and as far west as central Guyana. Ranitomeya vanzolinii(Myers, 1982) Amazonian rainforests of Brazil and Peru Ranitomeya variabilis(Zimmermann and Zimmermann, 1988) Huallaga River drainage of San Martín Region, Peru Ranitomeya ventrimaculata(Shreve, 1935) Brazil, southeastern Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Peru. Ranitomeya yavaricolaPérez-Peña, Chávez, Twomey, and Brown, 2010 Rio Yavari-Mirin, Loreto, Peru
Dendrobates rubrocephalus Schulte, 1999 is placed here incertae sedis.
In 2025, a team of researchers published the description of two new Ranitomeya species, R. aquamarina and R. aetherea, representing the first species named in the genus in more than ten years. The publications describing these species were accompanied by a molecular phylogenetic analysis including all members of the genus named to that point. These results are displayed in the cladogram below, with species groups noted.
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