Due to its peculiar colouring, the yellow-banded poison dart frog is a completely unmistakable species. This species is characterised by its very small size — between 3 and 4 cm — and its colouring consisting of large black and yellow bands with small black spots. Their ventral area is completely black. Males are smaller in size than females.

The yellow-banded poison dart frog is a terrestrial species that lives in areas close to watercourses. They are commonly found among the fallen leaves, in rocky areas, on plants and fallen trunks, where they capture small invertebrates — ants, termites, small arachnids and crickets. Their poison is very powerful and comes from their main food: ants.

It is a diurnal species. During the dry season, they can be found half-buried in fallen leaves or under dead trunks. They are mainly threatened by habitat loss due to logging and agriculture.

As an oviparous species, the female lays between 100 and 1,000 eggs out of the water, which are guarded for 90 days by the male until hatching. Tadpoles then move to the water so that they can develop properly. 

This type of frogs is known as “arrow frogs” because they are used by natives who extract their poison to apply it to their arrows so that when they hit their prey, they fall unconscious.

Conservation status