Washington: A scientist has recently discovered two new species of frogs in New Guinea, one of which is now the world’s tiniest known vertebrate, averaging less than one-third of an inch.
The 7.7 millimeters vertebrate, discovered by LSU’s Chris Austin, ousts Paedocypris progenetica, an Indonesian fish averaging more than 8 millimeters, from the record.
Austin, leading a team of scientists from the United States including LSU graduate student Eric Rittmeyer, made the discovery during a three-month long expedition to the island of New Guinea, the world’s largest and tallest tropical island.
“It was particularly difficult to locate Paedophryne amauensis due to its diminutive size and the males`` high pitched insect-like mating call,” Austin said.
“But it’s a great find. New Guinea is a hotspot of biodiversity, and everything new we discover there adds another layer to our overall understanding of how biodiversity is generated and maintained,” he said.
The most recent species descriptions highlight an interesting trend among the discovery of extremely small vertebrates
“The size limit of vertebrates, or creatures with backbones, is of considerable interest to biologists because little is understood about the functional constraints that come with extreme body size, whether large or small,” Austin said.
With more than 60,000 vertebrates currently known to man, the largest being the blue whale with an average size of more than 25 meters and the smallest previously being a small Indonesian fish averaging around 8 millimeters, there was originally some thought that extreme size in vertebrates might be associated with aquatic species, as perhaps the buoyancy offers support and facilitates the development of extremism.
However, both new species of frogs Austin described are terrestrial, suggesting that living in water is not necessary for small body size.
“The ecosystems these extremely small frogs occupy are very similar, primarily inhabiting leaf litter on the floor of tropical rainforest environments,” he said.
“We now believe that these creatures aren’t just biological oddities, but instead represent a previously undocumented ecological guild – they occupy a habitat niche that no other vertebrate does,” Austin added.
The study has been published in PLoS ONE.
ANI
