POISON dart frogs and some tropical bird species become poisonous by eating beetles that are laced with toxins, new research suggests.
Some frog species, such as those belonging to the South American genus Phyllobates, are notoriously toxic. Their skins produce poisons called batrachotoxins that cause powerful burning and numbing sensations and are deadlier than the well-known poisons curare and strychnine. In 1990, Jack Dumbacher of the Smithsonian's Conservation and Research Center in Port Royal, Virginia, discovered that the skin and feathers of colourful
But the origin of the toxins has remained an enigma, as neither the frogs nor the birds make them. Now an analysis by Dumbacher and his collaborator Avit Wako from the Papua New Guinean village of Herowana suggests melyrid beetles are the source. Beetle specimens collected and preserved in ethanol all contained batrachotoxins, leading the researchers ...
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