# Auratus on Maui



## Chris Miller (Apr 20, 2009)

An article about a woman finding an auratus in her backyard in Maui: 

http://www.hear.org/MISC/mauinews/pdfs/20090208_poisondartfrog.pdf


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## SmackoftheGods (Jan 28, 2009)

Interesting. I've always wondered why there is a Hawaiian Auratus.... So I'm assuming because of this unnatural transfer evolution took control and now Hawaii has a new morph of auratus?


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## Chris Miller (Apr 20, 2009)

Yeah, I would guess that they could be considered a morph separate from the ones on Taboga (or Taboguilla Island) seeing as how they've been apart for 80 years and have endured a different set of evolutionary pressures during that time. It's likely that their limited gene pool has created a situation where they throw odd balls (e.g. reticulated frogs) on a semi regular basis, especially in the hobby where there is an even more limited subset of these frogs breeding.

It would be interesting to see a frog collected on Hawaii next to one collected from the Panamanian Island today.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

THAT IS NICE TO READ, THEY ARE BECOMIGN SCARCE DOWN IN hawaii, whcih is why they are gonna stop teh export of them this comign JULY


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## alluringeli (Apr 20, 2009)

that was a very interesting article. thanks for sharing....


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## atlfrog (Dec 31, 2006)

SmackoftheGods said:


> Interesting. I've always wondered why there is a Hawaiian Auratus.... So I'm assuming because of this unnatural transfer evolution took control and now Hawaii has a new morph of auratus?


We talked about why they were there on this thread.... http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/breeding-eggs-tadpoles/40147-color-morhping-hawaiian-auratus.html

I am not sure if it is a new morph per say, but I did mention this in another thread that some Auratus have changed in coloration, behavior, as well as size in some cases. They have become darker, more aggressive and smaller in size slightly. WC H. Auratus from what I have been told have been aggressive enough to hurt others of its own morph (Male vs Male, Female vs Female) as well as other morphs themselves. Although I was having a casual conversation about this topic and the individual I was talking to keeps up with the current issues and news better than myself, I would like to see some actual studies being done before I would say this is actual fact. One thing I did notice in the article though is that they have only had a small number of cases presented or discovered on Maui in the last 10 years. This makes me believe that it might have only been introduced possibly within the last 40 years, but what do I know. Most likely at some point someone or the frog has found a way to get to that island and now it maybe an occurrence we might see more often. Who knows. I would like to see what the other H. Auratus that were discovered looked like before making a scientific assessment on whether or not that this is indeed a new morph as this is the only picture I could find on this subject and we all know that Auratus within the same morph species can come in different colorations.  Awesome find though!


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## srrrio (May 12, 2007)

I forgot to comment on this statement in the article (on other Hawaiian thread) :
"Kay Deck was puzzled
by a strange noise coming
from her central
Maui garden for several days last
July. She finally managed to find the
source of the noise--an unusual frog,
which she captured by throwing a
cloth over it and putting it in a jar. “It
doesn’t sound like anything you’ve
ever heard,” she said of the frog’s
call, which she described as a lowpitched
noise, like a gargle"

I can state that my captive group sounds nothing like that description...just a low buzz sound that I can only hear if standing in the frog room, and I think it sounds much like a cricket...

Sally


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## atlfrog (Dec 31, 2006)

srrrio said:


> I forgot to comment on this statement in the article (on other Hawaiian thread) :
> "Kay Deck was puzzled
> by a strange noise coming
> from her central
> ...


You know I didn't even think of that. LOL


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## macspoison (Oct 19, 2008)

It was always my understanding from someone who breeds darts and is from HI that the auratus were introduced to the island etc, for mosquito control. 

But to think that they could have also come over as tads or frogs in the plants that were brought over when they landscaped the island could be true as well.
Mac


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