User:AndrewGauthier1/Oophaga sylvatica

Oophaga sylvatica, sometimes known as its Spanish name diablito, is a species of frog in the family Dendrobatidae found in Southwestern Colombia and Northwestern Ecuador. Its natural habitat is lowland and submontane rainforest; it can, however, survive in moderately degraded areas, at least in the more humid parts of its range. It is a very common frog in Colombia, but has disappeared from much of its Ecuadorian range. It is threatened by habitat loss(deforestation) and agricultural pollution. It is sometimes seen in the international pet trade. New deforestation threats on the species have caused varying diets in the portion of the species that live in deforested pastureland compared to the frogs that live in the rainforest. The diet of pastureland frogs has a much smaller variety of alkaloids due to now reduced variety of ants, mites, and termites to feed on compared to rainforest frogs. This translates to a reduced variety of alkaloids being sequestered in the pastureland frogs.

Toxins[edit]
Oophaga sylvatica feed on insects such as ants and mites that contain lipophilic alkaloid toxins, and these toxins are then absorbed by the frog and used as a defense mechanism. These frogs cannot produce the toxins by themselves. Proteomic profiling has revealed that the livers of these frogs produce high levels of specialized proteins like saxiphilin that may be involved in alkaloid sequestration. The alkaloids also cause them to give off vibrant colors.The intake of these lipophilic alkaloids causes a dramatic increase in saxiphilin expression in the skin and liver tissues of the frog. This dramatic increase is likely due to helping transport the alkaloids from the digestive track to the skin to be used in the frog’s defense mechanisms. Oophaga Sylvatica can sequester and mechanize alkaloids in just a matter of 4 days compared to weeks in different dendrobatid species.