This species is known from the Andes of Mérida State, Venezuela, from 1,600-3,090m asl.
Habitat and Ecology
It occurs in clear, fast-flowing streams in Andean cloud forests. The eggs are laid on land and the male protects the eggs. When they are hatched, the male carries the larvae on his back to water where they develop further.
It is a rare species and has been in decline in recent years.
Some of the original environments occupied by this frog in the vicinities of the city of Mérida, in the Cordillera de Mérida, have been drastically changed by human activities, particularly due to agricultural expansion, for both crops and livestock. Much of the remaining habitat is severely fragmented. Introduced trout prey on the larvae of this species. However, this species is also declining in undisturbed habitats, which suggests an additional threat, possibly disease (such as chytridiomycosis).
Some populations are protected within national parks (Sierra Nevada and Sierra de la Culata). However, the existing protected areas network requires expansion to ensure the protection of suitable cloud forest habitats for this species. Further research is required to establish the reasons for the species' decline in apparently suitable habitat, and to determine whether chytrid poses a threat.
Aromobates inflexus was synonymized with this species by Frost (1985), but was revived in Myers, Paolillo and Daly (1991) and La Marca (1997). Although officially still in the synonymy of Aromobates alboguttatus, A. inflexus might prove to be a distinct species.
Enrique La Marca, Juan Elías García-Pérez 2010. Aromobates alboguttatus. In: IUCN 2014