Figure 1.

Hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships among representative species in the Dendrobatidae, based on mtDNA sequences from cytochrome b, 12S rRNA, and 16S rRNA gene regions (14). The figure shows the relationships among 21 species for which data on toxicity and coloration were available (Table 1) and is derived from a more extensive tree including a total of 27 representative species (14). Photos across the top of the figure show representative members of the following genera: Colostethus (C. talamancae), Epipedobates (E. tricolor), Dendrobates (D. auratus), and Phyllobates (P. bicolor). Structural diagrams along the bottom show the inferred (by means of parsimony) origins of some representative toxins. From left to right the toxins are a histrionicotoxin, a 3,5-disubstituted indolizidine, and a batrachotoxin.