Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Candidate for "World's smallest frog" discovered

OK, maybe it's the smallest. It's hard to have a contest in these types of things, and there's one from Cuba which may be smaller. But herpetologists are jazzed nonetheless for Microhyla nepenthicola, a frog which had actually been collected before - but the tiny specimens were assumed to be juveniles of some other species. The species hangs out (or hops about) in the Kubah National Park on the island of Borneo. Their tadpoles grow in liquid inside pitcher plants. A big member of the species may be 12 mm long. Yep, millimeters. There are some startling photographs in the title link that show just how small it is.

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