ArticleScientific reports2019
Sole coloration as an unusual aposematic signal in a Neotropical toad.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 6 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nuance in the Narrative of a Brown Poison Frog: Environmental Alkaloids and Specialized Foraging in a Presumed Toxin-Free and Diet-Generalized Species.Journal of chemical ecology · 2025Article
- Selection on Visual Opsin Genes in Diurnal Neotropical Frogs and Loss of the SWS2 Opsin in Poison Frogs.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- A review of chemical defense in harlequin toads (Bufonidae:Toxicon: X · 2022Review
- Influence of the Color, Shape, and Size of the Clay Model on Arthropod Interactions in Turfgrass.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2021Article
- Article
- Out in the open: behavior's effect on predation risk and thermoregulation by aposematic caterpillars.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many animals have evolved remarkable strategies to avoid predation. In diurnal, toxic harlequin toads (Atelopus) from the Amazon basin, we find a unique colour signal. Some Atelopus populations have striking red soles of the hands and feet, visible only when walking. When stationary, the toads are hard to detect despite their yellow-black dorsal coloration. Consequently, they switch between high and low conspicuousness. Interestingly, some populations lack the extra colour display of the soles. We found comprehensive support that the red coloration can act as an aposematic signal directed towards potential predators: red soles are significantly more conspicuous than soles lacking red coloration to avian predators and the presence of the red signal significantly increases detection. Further, toads with red soles show bolder behaviour by using higher sites in the vegetation than those lacking this signal. Field experiments hint at a lower attack risk for clay models with red soles than for those lacking the signal, in a population where the red soles naturally occur. We suggest that the absence of the signal may be explained by a higher overall attack risk or potential differences of predator community structure between populations.
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