![]() These adaptions have evolved independently several times across vertebrates, and have been shown to increase the likelihood of offspring reaching reproductive age. In animals, these strategies commonly include elaborate nest building 3, 4, costly periodic food provisioning 5, 6 and aggressive defense of their progeny 7. Many organisms evolve morphological or behavioral adaptations that increase offspring survival 1, 2. Therefore, we infer that the aposematism in dendrobatids might serve as an umbrella trait for the evolution and maintenance of their complex offspring-caring activities. We also found that in phytotelm-breeders, the rate of transition from cryptic to aposematic phenotype is 17 to 19 times higher than vice versa. Furthermore, the use of resource-limited tadpole-deposition environments may have evolved in tandem with an optimal reproductive strategy characterized by few offspring, biparental care, and female provisioning of food in the form of unfertilized eggs. We propose that aposematism may have facilitated the diversification of microhabitat use in dendrobatids in the context of reproduction. ![]() In particular, aposematic species tend to use more specialized tadpole-deposition sites, such as phytotelmata, and ferry fewer tadpoles than non-aposematic species. Our results show complex relationships between aposematism and certain aspects of the reproductive biology in dendrobatids. We tested the latter association using multivariate phylogenetic methods at the family level. Aposematism has a central role in poison frog diversification, including diet specialization, and visual and acoustic communication and it is thought to have impacted their reproductive biology as well. At least one third of dendrobatids displaying aposematism by exhibiting warning coloration that informs potential predators about the presence of defensive skin toxins. Among these, poison frogs (Dendrobatidae) are well-known for their extensive care, which includes egg guarding, larval transport, and specialized tadpole provisioning with trophic eggs. In amphibians, ~ 10% of species exhibit parental care. Parental care has evolved several times in animals including ectotherms. Many organisms have evolved adaptations to increase the odds of survival of their offspring.
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