# Help Identifying Oophagas



## Aphidius (Jul 25, 2021)

Hello, I recently received 3 Oophagas of unknown origin's I originally thought they were blue jeans but that doesn't line up... I don't have pictures of the female but she is similar to the black-legged one but she isn't black just really dark blue. Thanks for the help~


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

These certainly look like blue jeans. What does your papers say?


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Since you bought them as "unknown", that's all you can really call them, though "Strawberry dart frog" would also be acceptable. There are far too many distinct locales of pumilio that have similar enough physical appearance that even an experienced frogger can't make any kind of useful guess.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Dane said:


> Since you bought them as "unknown", that's all you can really call them, though "Strawberry dart frog" would also be acceptable. There are far too many distinct locales of pumilio that have similar enough physical appearance that even an experienced frogger can't make any kind of useful guess.


There is a lot of mislabeling of locales in various reptile circles, most of which is caused by unknown origin animals that "look like" some locale or other -- and then "looks like" over time turns into some sort of assumption or misunderstanding or willful self-deception that it is accurate; many people claiming questionable locale info, when pushed, will admit to this sort of story ("Yeah, well, um, someone told me it looks exactly like their locale animal, so it must be..."). It is actually becoming a big F%$^#& mess. The number of reliable sources of locale animals is shrinking rapidly. At least for some species (rosy boas are the ones that come to mind here) more stock can be acquired from the wild, though for obvious reasons that is really a lousy option to be faced with.

The locale of an animal is based on where it (or the ancestral stock of that animal) was collected from. Period. That's the only thing it is based on. What the animal looks like isn't a determining feature. So, the locale cannot be reverse-engineered from the appearance. If the line of trustworthy* information doesn't extend back to the original stock, then the frog is identifiable to species level only. 

Morphs, of course, are different, though seeing an animal and determining that it is a pure -- that is, not crossed with some other morph -- example of that morph should not be taken as a generally reliable practice either.

* Trust is essentially all we have here, until DNA sequencing advances to the point where I can confirm locale info from it, though not long after that we'll likely be able to 3D print a frog from amino acids or something. If we can't trust that folks aren't guessing about IDs, then the hobby becomes a pretty crummy place in general.


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## Aphidius (Jul 25, 2021)

I spoke with the person that sold me the tank and he said that they are Oophaga typographica "Blue Jeans". I didn't know about this issue. Thanks for informing me~


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Aphidius said:


> I spoke with the person that sold me the tank and he said that they are Oophaga typographica "Blue Jeans". I didn't know about this issue. Thanks for informing me~


So, this is great, if accurate, however most vendors who would sell or transfer a pumilio as an unknown, or without specific import or lineage info, may also be willing to take a stab at an identification when pressed, as Socratic Monologue stated. I would take it a step further to request/require a traceable import year and importer, or at least a source that can provide said info. If you paid less than $100 each for the frogs, there's a good chance that they are a mixed bag, or generic "strawberry darts".


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Yes, confirming that ID might be simple: a receipt from the (likely online) purchase would have info. Even knowing the name of the supplier is a very useful clue -- any one of the bigger general herp peddlers, or 'some guy at a show', would reduce the likelihood of an accurate ID.


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