Trinidad Stream Frog, Mannophryne trinitatis (Family Aromobatidae)

A male transporting tadpoles.

Phyllobates trinitatis Garman, 1888 (1887), Bull. Essex Inst., 19: 13. Type locality: "Trinidad".

Prostherapis trinitatis — Mole and Urich, 1894, J. Trinidad Field Nat. Club, 2: 87.

Prostherapis trinitatis trinitatis — Rivero, 1961, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 126: 155.

Colostethus trinitatus — Edwards, 1971, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 84: 148.

Mannophryne trinitatus — La Marca, 1992, Cuad. Geograf., Mérida, 9: 32.

Mannophryne trinitatis — La Marca, 1994, Publ. Asoc. Amigos Doñana, 4: 52.

Barrio-Amorós et al., (2006) provided morphological and chromosomal evidence that Mannophryne trinitatis is restricted to the island of Trinidad. The Peninsula de Paria, Venezuelan population was found to be a different species, Mannophryne venezuelensis (Manzanilla et al., 2007).

Distribution. Forested areas of the Northern and Central Ranges of the island of Trinidad, occurring from the upper elevations of the mountainous areas to sea level.

Natural History. Associated with gravel, and sandy substrate streams with shaded. Females deposit eggs at terrestrial locations guarded by the male. Males transport tadpoles to predator free pools that may be some distance from the stream.



Barrio Amorós, C.L. 2004. Amphibians of Venezuela Systematic List, Distribution and References, An Update. Review of Ecology in Latin America 9(3): 1-48.

Barrio-Amorós, C.L. Rivas, G., Molina, C., and Kaiser, H. 2006. Mannophryne trinitatis (Anura: Dendrobatidae) a Trinidadian single-island endemic. Herpetological Review 37: 298-299.

Edwards, S.R. 1974. Taxonomic notes on South American Dendrobatid frogs of the genus Colostethus. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Kansas: 1-14.

IUCN. 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2010.2). Available at:http://www.iucnredlist.org.

Jowers, M.J. and Downie, J.R. 2004. Distribution of the frog Mannophryne trinitatis (Anura: Dendrobatidae) in Trinidad, West Indies. Living World. Journal of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists´ Club: 17-19.

Kenny, J.S. 1969. The Amphibia of Trinidad. Studies on the Fauna of Curacao and Other Caribbean Islands.

La Marca, E. 1992. Catálogo taxonómico, biogeográfico y bibliográfico de las ranas de Venezuela. Cuadernos Geográficos, Universidad de Los Andes 1: 1-197.

La Marca, E. 1994. Taxonomy of the frogs of the genus Mannophryne (Amphibia: Anura: Dendrobatidae). Publicaciones de la Asociacion Amigos de Doñana: 1-75.

La Marca, E. 1995. Biological and systematic synopsis of a genus of frogs from Northern mountains of South America (Anura: Dendrobatidae: Mannophryne). Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society: 40-77.

La Marca, E. 1997. Lista actualizada de los anfibios de Venezuela. In: La Marca, E. (ed.), Vertebrados Actuales y Fosiles de Venezuela, pp. 103-120. Museo de Ciencias y Tecnología de Mérida, Mérida.

Manzanilla, J., García-París, M. and La Marca, E. 2002. Filogenia molecular del Género Mannophryne. VII Congreso Luso-Español de Herpetología, Evora, pp. 61. Portugal.

Manzanilla, J., Jowers, M.J., La Marca, E., and García-París, M. 2007. Taxonomic reassessment of Mannophryne trinitatis (Anura: Dendrobatidae) with a description of a new species from Venezuela. The Herpetological Journal 17: 31-42.

Manzanilla, J., La Marca, E. and García-París, M. 2003. Evidencias moleculares de la monofilia del género Mannophryne (Anura: Dendrobatidae). VI Congreso Latinoamericano de Herpetología, Enero 2003, Lima, Perú.

Mole, R.R. and Urich, F.W. 1894. A preliminary list of the reptiles and batrachians of the island of Tobago. Journal of the Trinidad Field Naturalists’ Club: 77-90.

Murphy, J.C. 1997. Amphibians and Reptiles of Trinidad and Tobago. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida.

Parker, H.W. 1933. A list of the frogs and toads of Trinidad. Tropical Agriculture 10(1): 8-12.