New Atelopus sp. - Page 3

KeroKero · #21 (**permalink**) 03-12-2012, 07:05 PM

All of the atelopus have come in male heavy to completely male due to how they are collected. Seemed like this was a really small group, I'm not sure if there is a confirmed female yet.

JRoe · #22 (**permalink**) 03-13-2012, 12:08 AM

How many did you get Ray? I see at least 3 or 4 in the pictures.

Wim van den Berg · #23 (**permalink**) 03-15-2012, 07:50 AM

Atelopus is my favorite frog/toad....ever!
I fellin love with these when i saw the first A varius in Costa Rica . now there are just a few places were they survived.
Pictures above ,i think is A spumarius .. but a bit differend form like mine.

KeroKero · #24 (**permalink**) 03-15-2012, 01:48 PM

Costa Rican A. varius (toads for sure) were how I was introduced as well. Sadly I believe all the populations are gone, I haven't heard about the last hold out for years and they weren't sure how long it would hold out.

Just a taxonomic note, while they are imported under name none if the Guiana Shield atelopus are A. spumarius. It is a misnomer since the species have similar patterns, but the Guiana Shield Atelopus are their own group of taxonomic mayhem. A. spumarius (the real one) is from the Peruvian Andes and more along the sizes of A. varius and zeteki. The Guiana Shield Atelopus are undergoing some major taxonomic work, and the imports are usually called A. hoogmoedi as a place holder to recognize it is NOT spumarius by using the subspecies designation that was proposed to species status.

I bring this up not only to correct a name but because it has captive care and breeding importance. If you look up info on spumarius it will be incorrect because that is the wrong toad. The Guiana Shield toads are just starting to get the attention their Central American and Andes relatives have. Hopefully this will give use valuable information on their life cycles because they sure aren't the rabbits zeteki are in captivity, partially I think because we treat them like animals they aren't.

MPepper · #25 (**permalink**) 03-15-2012, 05:02 PM

Atelopus varius still exists in CR. The hold out population you refer to as well at least one more population which Brian Kubicki tells me was recently documented. There have been a few rediscoveries of Atelopus populations lately, including A. balios in Ecuador. There is still room for a little optimism, don't count them out just yet!

KeroKero · #26 (**permalink**) 03-15-2012, 05:36 PM

That's good to hear Mark! I hope the conditions that have protected them so far will keep them that way. More and more isolated populations of species have been popping up with the recent efforts to track them down. I does give me hope!

Ed · #27 (**permalink**) 03-15-2012, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeroKero

I bring this up not only to correct a name but because it has captive care and breeding importance. If you look up info on spumarius it will be incorrect because that is the wrong toad. The Guiana Shield toads are just starting to get the attention their Central American and Andes relatives have. Hopefully this will give use valuable information on their life cycles because they sure aren't the rabbits zeteki are in captivity, partially I think because we treat them like animals they aren't.

If we look back to the times when A. varius was available in the pet hobby, we can see that the problems that occured then were the same as we see now in other Atelopus species... so we shouldn't be so sure that the Guiana shield Atelopus don't have similar requirements since the conditions used to breeding are very similar... I strongly suspect that the majority of the issues with them are due to how they are handled before becoming acclimated and some of the misinformation circulating out there (for example that A. "hoogmoedi" will successfully breed in small volumes of water (such as a discarded bottle) which leads people off in the wrong direction..

Ed