The Evolusion of Poison Dart Frogs Skin Patterns!

Nearly all the brightly colored frogs that you find in a tropical forest are poisonous. Their bright colours send out the clears message, "I'm poisonous!"Of course the frogs aren't just one color, they have many patterns positioned all over their backs. Researchers have found "When predators see that their targets are of a different species, they attack. Over the long term, that explains how patterns and colors become uniform in an area," said Bernard Angers, who directed Chateau's doctoral research.
One of the things that surprised researchers the most is the small spatial scale where the evolutionary process as been. Around 10 Kilometers of separation was enough for a completely different adaption to take place.
"This process could be at origin of the wide range of colour patterns that are observed not only in frogs but also many species of butterflies, bees, and other animals. I am in fact currently undertaking post-doctoral research into the Heliconius genus of butterfly. Considering that this kind of project requires regular field work, I have taken up residence in the small town of Tarapoto, where I am responsible for the opening of a research centre that will facilitate the study of neotropical butterfly mimicry," he said.
 I knew that there were a lot of colorful poisonous frogs in the rainforests but i had no idea that their colors are becoming uniform/recognized in certain places around the rainforest. Its amazing!



Natural selection has played a role in the development of the many skins patterns of the tiny Ranitomeya imitator poison dart frog. (Credit: Copyright Mathieu Chouteau)