As is typical of chemically defended animals, poison frogs present high variability in their alkaloid-based defenses. Previous studies have shown that geographically separated color morphs of Oophaga and Dendrobates species differ in both alkaloid composition and arthropod palatability. Here, we tested the generality of that finding by studying the alkaloid composition and palatability of geographically separated blue and orange morphs of the splash-backed poison frog, Adelphobates galactonotus. We identified and quantified the alkaloid composition of each individual frog using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and evaluated the palatability of individual secretions to arthropods conducting feeding trials with Drosophila melanogaster. Despite their conspicuous differences in color and separation on opposite sides of a large aquatic barrier, the two morphs did not differ in alkaloid composition or palatability. This result shows that both color morphs are equally chemically protected and suggests that the color variation is not driven by predator selection.

中文翻译：

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亚马逊毒蛙Adelphobates galactonotus（Anura，Dendrobatidae）在地理上分开的橙色和蓝色种群的生物碱组成或适口性没有差异

与化学防御动物一样，毒蛙在基于生物碱的防御中表现出高度的可变性。先前的研究表明，Oophaga和Dendrobates物种在地理上分开的颜色形态在生物碱组成和节肢动物适口性方面均不同。在这里，我们通过研究the背毒蛙Adelphobates galactonotus的地理上分离的蓝色和橙色形态的生物碱组成和适口性，测试了该发现的一般性。我们使用气相色谱-质谱法鉴定并量化了每只青蛙的生物碱成分，并评估了黑果蝇进食试验中个体分泌物对节肢动物的适口性。尽管它们在大型水生屏障的相对颜色和分离方面存在明显差异，但两种形态在生物碱组成或适口性方面没有差异。该结果表明两种颜色形态均受到相同的化学保护，并表明颜色变化不受捕食者选择的驱动。