First report of partial leucism in the poison frog Epipedobates anthonyi (Anura: Dendrobatidae) in El Oro, Ecuador

ABSTRACT

The poison frog Epipedobates anthonyi is a species of the Dendrobatidae family distributed in a restricted area in Ecuador and Peru; it has high chromatic variation in Ecuadorian populations. An individual with partial leucism was registered in the Province of El Oro-Ecuador. It is the first case formally reported from this species and in the country. This note describes the record and presents photographs to compare a leucistic individual with one with the normal coloration of the area.

RESUMEN

La rana venenosa Epipedobates anthonyi es una especie de la familia Dendrobatidae, distribuida en un área restringida en Ecuador y Perú, tiene un alto grado de variación cromática en las poblaciones ecuatorianas. Un individuo con leucismo parcial fue registrado en la provincia de El Oro-Ecuador, este es el primer caso reportado formalmente para esta especie y para el país. En esta nota se describe el registro y se presentan fotografías para comparar el individuo leucístico con uno con coloración normal del área.

KEYWORDS:

• Amphibian
• chromatic abnormality
• coloration
• depigmentation

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• anfibio
• anormalidad cromática
• coloración
• despigmentación

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Pablo Medrano Vizcaíno for his valuable review comments. I thank Daniel Colgan Badillo for the English review throughout the manuscript. I express my gratitude to anonymous reviewers for their accurate comments to improve this manuscript. Ministerio del Ambiente issued collection permits N° 006-2019-IC-FLORA/FAUNA-DPAEO-MAE.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.