poison dart frog

1. Poison dart frog
Ryota Kitamura
Kyutech
ryota.kitamura(at)etu.emse.fr

2. Habitat
-Central and South America (and Hawaii)
Food
-insects and arthropods
About 200 species
Poison
-Pumiliotoxin… Neurotoxin of alkaloid
About poison dart frog

3. Characteristics
Height - 1.5cm~6cm
Brightly color with cryptically pattern
- to warn potential predators
-・Almost all their bright coloration is associated with
their toxicity and levels of alkaloids.

4. Toxicity
Lipophilic alkaloid toxins through their skin .
-as a chemical defense against predation.
In the past, their poison were used as the poison of arrow
(That is why they are also called poison arrow frog. )
People will be dead with 20 μg their poison.
←The most degerous frog
Golden poison frog
-their poison (batrachotoxin) is enough
to kill between 10 and 20 humans.

5. Toxicity
Q. How are they getting their poison?
- -It is thought that they synthesize or stock their
poison from arthropod prey items, such as ants,
centipedes and mites for a long while.
However, it is clear that their poison depends on
their food, because Captive-bred animals do not
possess significant levels of toxin.

6. Toxicity
In 2005, Japanese professors
Yasumasa Kuwahara and Naoki
Mori (Kyoto University) found
Pumiliotoxin from their food
Schloribates. Schloribates
Pumiliotoxin is also one of poison of poison
dart frog, so it is now considered they can stock
their poison from their foods directly.
Schloribates can produce their poison by
themselves

7. Toxicity
The naturally occurring bacteria on a frog’s skin
could be the most important tool for helping the
animal fight off a deadly skin disease, according to an
experiment conducted by Virginia Tech researchers
in October 2015.
Harlequin frog
The toxicity of Poison dart frog can be also from
bacteria, and also very important to avoid their
desease.

8. Alkaloid
Almost all poison dart frog has poison of Alkaloid
which is a group of naturally occurring chemical
compounds that contain mostly basic nitrogen
atoms. Alkaloids are produced by a large variety of
organisms including bacteria, fungi, plants, and
animals.
Morphine, which is famous for the poison of opium
is also Alkaloid.

9. Batrachotoxins
●The most dengerous poison in poison dart frog as I
explained.
●Its 50％ Lethal Dose (LD50) is 0.002 mg/kg
●Batrachotoxin was derived from the Greek word
"batrachos" meaning "frog“
Alkaloid

10. ●Pitohui, which is birds endemic to
New Guinea also has Batrachotoxin,
but they can’t produce poison in their
body.
●Melyridae, which is a family of beetles
also has Batrachotoxin (Colombian and
New Guinean species)
It may account for the toxicity of
some frogs

11. Medicine
Chemicals extracted from the skin of
Phantasmal poison frog may be shown to
have medicinal value.
Epibatidine, which is also a kind of their poison, is a painkiller 200
times as potent as morphine,
but the therapeutic dose is very close to the fatal dose.
Secretions from dendrobatids are also showing promise
as muscle relaxants, heart stimulants and appetite
suppressants.