There are at least three different Panamanian blue and black morphs of auratus in the hobby.
The first is the ‘old line’ blue and black auratus. This morph has been in the hobby since at least the early 1990s. It is a smaller morph, known to be rather shy, and has vibrant jet black and bright blue markings. It is likely that this is the Calobre morph, but there are several populations of blue and black auratus in the wild and the frogs on the hobby lack any location or collection data.
Giant Blue. This morph of blue and black auratus is larger than the previous morph, hence it’s name. The shade of blue in its markings is also different. These frogs first came into the hobby from Panama in 2007. Simply Natural Dart frogs referred to these frogs as “robin eggs blue auratus.” Understory Enterprises sells offspring from SNDF’s line but refers to them as ‘Giant Blue.’
Blue microspotted. These also came into the hobby in 2007 as wild imports from Panama and only a few people obtained them. Marcus at Simply Natural Dart Frogs seemed to establish a group and produce offspring for a few years, but there are not many of this morph in the hobby. It could be true that these are just micro-spotted individuals of the ‘Giant Blue’ morph, but there is no certainty.
