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
frogs in the family
Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical
Central and
South America. These species are
diurnal and often have brightly colored bodies. This bright coloration is correlated with the toxicity of the brightly colored species, making these species
aposematic. Some species of the Dendrobatidae family exhibit extremely bright coloration along with high toxicity, while others have
cryptic coloration with minimal to no amount of observed toxicity. The species that have great toxicity, derive this from their diet of ants, mites and termites. Other species however, that exhibit cryptic coloration and low to no amounts of toxicity, eat a much larger variety of prey. Many species of this family are
threatened due to human infrastructure encroaching the places they inhabit.