Tiny new frog discovered

Biologists from Delhi University discovered this darling frog that when fully grown is just 0.3937 inches or 10 mm. From Loren Coleman's post at Cryptomundo:

Delhi University Systematics Biologist S. D. Biju and his colleagues have found this new frog, India’s smallest land vertebrate, in the Western Ghats of Kerala, a mountainous region in the western portion of India.

The humid rainforests of the Western Ghats are the perfect habitat for these nocturnal frogs, which enjoy making mating calls from under leaf litter and among the roots of ferns during the monsoon months.

Link

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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dlindsey

@Beanolini Yes, but I live in, well near, the Western Ghats. I’m going to photograph the next one that pops up.
Beanolini

DLINDSEY- the ones in your bathroom are probably not fully grown. I’ve been seeing lots of tiny toads (~12mm) in my corner of the UK recently, but their adult size will be 80-100mm if they survive that long.

It would be interesting to know how much of this new species’ growth is in the tadpole stage. Most frogs and toads are at about 10-20% of their adult size when they metamorphose- the paradoxical frog and the American bullfrog are notable exceptions, both being proportionally larger at metamorphosis.
dhelling

How about this tiny fully formed frog that I ran across inside a flower at a monastery in Hue?

http://flickr.com/photos/62895879@N00/561616532

I checked with a herpetologist who gave me the impression that there are quite a few frogs around the world that are very, very small. This one was tiny, but it hopped around like any larger one you might find!
aliiiii

I was in Cambodia in April, and these little guys were ALL OVER the Angkor Wat temples. They’re full-grown, and I’m rather surprised that this is a “discovery”…?
kgirl808

does anyone know what these frogs eat? because i have a lot of these frogs in my yard.
Stefan Jones

An interesting contrast would be to put this picture side-by-side with a snap of the world’s largest frog sitting on a manhole cover.
notyou

One could dress him in those tiny little knit sweaters that were featured here recently.
dlindsey

Saw this in the paper the other day. I didn’t know these things were “undiscovered”, they keep getting in my bathroom. Unless I’ve got a different variety, but the size is right.
sinclair

Significant figures, please! If it’s 10 mm long, it’s 0.4 inches. Unless you really mean that every adult frog is exactly 0.3937 inches long.
jimh

Also, 10mm=1cm.

@NOTYOU #2, haha so funny. I think he would look smashing an a tiny knitted Mr. Toad Harris tweed suit!
Loren Coleman

In direct response to David’s blog and the comment poster #1, I wrote this new blog:

Boing Boing Frogs

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/boing-frogs/