Vol. 84, No. 18, pp. 147-162 30 June 1971 PROCEEDINGS , OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON TAXONOMIC NOTES ON SOUTH AMERICAN COLOSTETHUS WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SPECIES (AMPHIBIA, DENDROBATIDAE) By Stephen R. Edwards University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66044 The family Dendrobatidae can be divided into two groups — those species lacking maxillary teeth (Dendrobates) and those species having maxillary teeth ( Phyllobates and Coloste-thus ) . Savage ( 1968 ) studied Central American dendrobatids and separated Phyllobates from Colostethus as follows: Phyl-lobates has scattered "punctations" of black pigment in the flesh; the dorsal and ventral ground color is black; and the skin is poisonous. Colostethus lacks black pigmentation in the flesh; the dorsal ground color is dark brown, and the venter is white to yellow (males of some species have a black wash on the throat); and the skin is non-poisonous. The criteria of ventral coloration utilized by Savage to distinguish Colostethus must be amended to include species with extensive black coloration of the venter. Some of those species that Savage considered to be in the genus Colostethus were named in the genera Prostherapis and Hyloxalus, both of which are now placed in synonymy of Colostethus. Therefore, by implication, all those South American species originally described in Pros-therapis and Hyloxalus also must be referred to Colostethus. Savage also indicated that many South American species named in the genus Phyllobates belong in Colostethus. Exam-ination of type specimens, study of preserved specimens, and critical analysis of original descriptions has led me to refer the following 43 nominal species to the genus Colostethus (the original generic allocation is given in parentheses ) : /-<T HSO'A/7*^ 18— Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., Vol. 84, 1971 (147)' "» '*" JUN3 0197
BioStor
