Anthony's Gost Dart Frog 2021

The Anthony's Gost Dart Frog (Epipedobates anthonyi) is one of the smallest of the group, called Gost becase of the small dimensions that make this animals almost invisible in undergrowth. 

This species is endemic of Ecuador and Peru. Its habitat is in fact the leaf bed of tropical forest, expecially near watercourses. 

It is a diurnal species. Males are territorial and are distinguished from famales by the long singing sessions in preparation for mating. They usually lay, in the dart leaves, from 15 to 40 eggs which the male protects for 2 weeks until hatching. At this moment, again the male carry the tadpoles on his back to take them to a suitable water area (pond, puddle or an armpit filled with water of a bromeliad) where they can develop up until the metamorphosis, for about 60 days.