Leptodactylid Frogs: Leptodactylidae

Physical characteristics: True to its name, the gold-striped frog has two golden yellow stripes, each one running from its rounded snout above the brown eye and eardrum and down its slender, slightly warty back to the rump. Its legs are tan with black bands, often faded on the front legs, and end in unwebbed toes that are tipped with small pads. Small red blotches show at the top of the hind legs. The frog's smooth underside is light grayish brown. Males and females look alike, although the females are slightly larger. Females can reach 2.2 inches (5.6 centimeters) long from snout to rump, while males grow to 1.8 inches (4.5 centimeters) in length.

People often mistake this species for a poison dart frog. While poison dart frogs ooze what can be dangerous poison from their skin, the gold-striped frogs do not. (Illustration by Dan Erickson. Reproduced by permission.)

Geographic range: This frog is found in the Amazon River basin of northern South America, as well as in the Guianas.

Habitat: For most of the year, gold-striped frogs are found in hot, moist, low-lying rainforests.

Diet: Adults search the forest floor for earthworms and arthropods to eat.

Behavior and reproduction: Although young gold-striped frogs may hop about on land in the daytime and at night, the adults usually go out only after dark. In the daylight, the adults hide from sight in underground burrows, sometimes inside the nests of leaf-cutting ants. During breeding times, the males call from their daytime getaways. When a female approaches the male, he hops onto her back, and they head for water. She lays about 200 eggs inside a foam nest that they make near the edge of the water. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, which stay inside the nest for about one to two weeks, and then swim off into the water. In about nine weeks, when the bright pink tadpoles are as much as 2 inches (5 centimeters) long, they turn into froglets.

Gold-striped frogs and people: People often mistake this species for a poison dart frog. While poison dart frogs ooze what can be dangerous poison from their skin, the gold-striped frogs do not.

Conservation status: This common species is not considered endangered or threatened. ∎