A new breed of bright orange poison dart frog has been discovered by Colombian researchers in Donoso, Panama.

It was first thought that the frog, Andinobates Geminisae, belonged to another poison dart frog species called Oophaga Pumilio, which sports a brilliant color variation.

However, Andrew Crawford from Universidad de Los Andes made it crystal clear after doing the sequencing of the frog's DNA that Geminisae belongs to the Andinobates species.

According to researchers, the factors that led the Andinobates species to become endangered comprised the small area they lived in, the loss of their habitat, and people collecting them as pets.

A captive breeding program of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project had been devised for the protection of Geminisae. A consortium of six zoos and research institutions funded the project. The name of the frog was taken from Geminis Varges, the wife of Marcos Ponce, one of the project's founder and an expert on Panamanian herpetology.

A specimen of the species was collected by an environment office director of the MWH Global Inc, Samuel Valdes, on February 21, 2011, in Rio Caño located in Donoso, Colon Province in Panama.

Biologist Marcos Ponce and Abel Batista, a researcher, collected more specimens on Rio Cocle Del Norte and Rio Belen. They later deposited these specimens at the Museo de Vertebredos, Museo Herpetologico and Circulo Herpetologico in Panama.

"Abel Batista and Marcos Ponce were the first to note the presence of this species. They've known it was there for several years. However, they were not sure if it was only a variety of another poison dart frog species, Oophaga pumilio, which exhibits tremendous color variation", Cesar Jaramillo, Smithsonian herpetologist, said in a statement.

The authors have called for the formulation of special conservation plans to help the species survive.