Description
This is a small frog, with males reaching 19.2 mm and females 24.2 mm. Characters which have been identified for this species, following Meinhardt and Parmelee (1996), include: (1) small size; (2) disc on finger III wider than diameter of finger; (3) finger I shorter than finger II; (4) fringe present on finger II; (5) disc on fourth toe wider than diameter of toe; (6) fringe present on fourth toe; (7) outer tarsal fold absent; (8) toe webbing formula is I1-2II1-2III2-3.5IV4-2V; (9) dorsolateral stripe absent; (11) ventrolateral stripe absent; (12) discrete dark markings absent on chest; (13) discrete markings absent on belly; (14) no sexual dimorphism in ventral pattern; (15) finger III of male not swollen. In addition, the skin is smooth and the cloacal opening is directed posteroventrally at the upper level of the thighs. The cloacal sheath is short. Teeth are present on maxillary arch. Testes are small (about one third length of kidneys) and white.

Anomaloglossus parkerae differs from its congeners in having an orange-yellow throat in life and by lacking both pale longitudinal stripes and distinct dark markings on the chest or belly. Its dorsum is grayish tan with olive brown markings and the iris is pale bronze.

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Venezuela

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Occurs in the Guiana Highlands of southeastern Venezuela. Known from two localities: (1) Paso de El Danto (considered to be the rainiest place in Venezuela by Rivero, 1968). The habitat here is low montane rainforest without a canopy, with few palms, a few bromeliads, and many ferns, with sandy soil. (2) 5-7 km from the type locality; this also is lower montane rainforest with many terrestrial and some arboreal bromeliads and moderately thick growths of mosses on limbs, stream banks, and rocks.

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Stomach contents were examined and found to include whole ants, termite heads, beetles, isopods and flies, indicating that this species is a generalist feeder (Pough and Taigen 1990; Toft 1981).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss
Habitat modification from deforestation, or logging related activities

References

Meinhardt, D. J., and Parmelee, J. R. (1996). ''A new species of Colostethus (Anura: Dendrobatidae) from Venezuela.'' Herpetologica, 52(1), 70-77.

Pough, F. H., and Taigen, T.L. (1990). ''Metabolic correlates of the foraging and social behaviour of dart-poison frogs.'' Animal Behavior, 39, 145-155.

Toft, C. A. (1981). ''Feeding ecology of Panamanian litter anurans: patterns in diet and foraging mode.'' Journal of Herpetology, 15, 139-144.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2008 Anomaloglossus parkerae <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/1594> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Dec 22, 2024.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 22 Dec 2024.

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