poison-arrow frog

American  

[poi-zuhn-ar-oh] / ˈpɔɪ zənˈær oʊ /

noun

1. a small, bright-colored terrestrial frog of the family Dendrobatidae, of Central and South American rain forests, that secretes a virulent poison from its skin, once used on the tips of Indian hunting arrows.

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Example Sentences

It is now recognized as a color variant of the Amazon poison frog, Ranitomeya ventrimaculata.

From Science Daily • Jan. 6, 2026

Scientists at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum recently uncovered a mistake that dates back decades involving a poison frog specimen from Peru.

From Science Daily • Jan. 6, 2026

After sequencing the DNA of poison frog species that employ epibatidine, Tarvin and her colleagues found that the frogs' own receptors for acetylcholine were ever-so-slightly misshapen, results the team recently published in Science.

From National Geographic • Sep. 28, 2017

So Dr Brown and his colleagues decided to check out the mimic poison frog more closely.

From BBC • Feb. 22, 2010

Even on Earth, the skin of a Colombian golden poison frog had a waaaaay lower LD50—the Lethal Dose needed to kill 50% of a test population.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera