Dendrobates auratus
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Scientific name: Dendrobates auratus

Common name: The green and black poison frog

Distribution: Colombia, Cost Rica, Panama and Nicaragua

Favoured terrain: This is a predominantly ground dwelling species, though in the wild it often deposits its eggs in branches as much as 10 metres from the ground.

Dificulty: Easy. This is quite often a herpetologists first dart frog, as it is robust, easily bred, and quite attractive.

Notes: Dendrobates auratus is a widespread and relatively common frog, perhaps related to Dendrobates truncatus and Dendrobates tinctorius. Its range starts in Northwest Colombia (where it co-exists with D. truncatus) continues up through Panama, Nicaragua and finally Costa Rica.

Dendrobates auratus has very variable patterning, both within a strain, and between colonies. This is typically a dark brown or black frog with green, blue or brown markings. The most commonly available are the dark brown, with bright green frogs shown in the first two images, but the blue phase shown here is particularly attractive variant.