The males of this extremely poisonous frog species croak for every female in the morning

Blue backs, red spots, copper -colored limbs: this 1.5 centimeters large frog looks clownesk, but make no mistake: his skin is extremely toxic. The species that belongs to the family of the Pijlgifkikers and the name Ranitomeya Aetherea Wears, recently discovered in the basin of the Juruá, a river that flows through Peru and Brazil.

In Central and South America, as far as we know, there are just under two hundred different arrow poison frogs, often with striking bright yellow or blue colors. Some species live on the ground, others in trees. The frogs get their name because some indigenous peoples use the poison of the frog skin to smear arrow points. With a blowpipe, the toxic arrows are shot on prey.

Sixteen species were known within the Ranitomeya genus; The last discovery dates from more than ten years ago, Thus the Brazilian biologists those Ranitomeya Aetherea First described in magazine Plos One. Precisely because relatively little research has been done in the Juruábekken, they hope for even more new species.

Ranitomeya Aetherea Is active all day, but the males croak especially in the morning, between 6.30 am and 8 am. According to the biologists, they are promiscuous and start to crush for every random female she approaches.

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