The national animal of Panama, this brightly colored frog may be extinct in the wild. It declined by 80 percent between 2000 and 2010, primarily due to the disease chytridiomycosis, spreading through Panama from west to east. Active by day, its vivid coloration signals that its skin secretes a lethal nerve poison, zetekitoxin. It breeds in fast-flowing streams, where its mating call is often inaudible. Instead, males attract females by stereotyped hand-waving and foot-raising movements. Males and females remain in amplexus for a few days, and females lay 200–600 eggs attached to rocks in streams.
SIMILAR SPECIES
There are around 100 species in the genus Atelopus, found across Central and South America. The closest relative of A.zeteki is the equally brightly colored Harlequin Frog (A. varius; page 160), also found in Panama.
2015
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