The world's smallest frog species found in the interior southeast of Papua New Guinea. This frog into Paedophryne genus, which consists of a number of supermini-sized frog. Even the adult frogs of two new species, Paedophryne dekot and Paedophryne verrucosa, measuring only 8-9 millimeters.
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| The two new tiny frogs discovered in New Guinea, the tiniest in the world. The top frogs are examples of P. dekot and the lower two are P. verrucosa. (Picture from: http://news.science360.gov/) |
Super small frog was discovered by researchers Fred Kraus of the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, when conducting field surveys in Papua New Guinea. Actually, Kraus has found a frog Paedophryne in 2002, but the genus was only formally described in the last year.
Two previously described species are larger in size, 10-11 mm, but it still represents a genus of the world's smallest tetrapod groups.
"Miniaturization occurs in many genera of frogs around the world," said Kraus, "but Papua New Guinea seems very special, with seven genera showed that phenomenon."
Although most of the genera of frogs that had little mini-sized species among the other members of the larger-bodied, very unique Paedophryne genus because all species of small super-sized.
"Four of these species inhabit a small area in the mountains southeast of Papua New Guinea, or the islands off its shores," said Kraus. "Their closest relatives are still unclear."
Form of tiny frog's body is expected to have anything to do with their habitat, let alone all the mini frog species that live in litter or a pile of autumn leaves on the ground. All members of this genus also have smaller fingers, making them unable to climb trees well.
Shrinking their fingers there is a possibility is the impact of shrinking the size of the body needed to inhabit the litter and moss. Habitation in the litter and moss generally found in the frog super small and may reflect also the exploitation of new food sources available in that habitat. *** [SCIENCEDAILY | KORAN TEMPO 3735]
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