Flea toad may be world’s smallest vertebrate

A trio of biologists from the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz in Brazil has confirmed that a small frog, Brachycephalus pulex, also known as the Brazilian flea toad, which is only found in southern Brazil, is not only the world’s smallest amphibian. is, but also the world’s smallest pauper. They have paper. published In the journal Zoological writings.

Researchers first discovered the tiny frog in 2011. The discovery team found evidence that the frog lives only on a few hills in a southern part of Bahia in Brazil. At the time, researchers also believed the frog was a toad, hence the name.

For this new study, the researchers went to the site where the original specimens were found and captured and released several more after measuring them and checking for signs of maturity—they wanted to make sure that those were measured as adults. To do this, they had to check both their gonads and vocal slits. Once they confirmed that a specimen was as large as they were going to get, they measured its body length.

A mean of 46 samples was found to be male Body length At just over 7mm — making them smaller than a pea — or otherwise, two of them can rest comfortably on a pinky nail. Females averaged 1 mm in length. The researchers noted that the smallest specimen they found was only 6.45 millimeters long, which they believe is about 30 percent smaller than the previous smallest. Frog observed

The finding represents the smallest observed phrase, although not the smallest possible. They suggest that there may be smaller creatures that have yet to be discovered and studied. They also note that there are potential limitations — most small frogs have oddities, they point out, such as fewer toes than other frogs, or insufficiently formed ones — signs that indicate the frog is a frog. Even those that are small will have a hard time surviving.

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