Frog discovered in Borneo is one of world's tiniest

Tiny, New, Pea-Sized Frog Is Old World's Smallest
ScienceDaily 25 Aug 10;

The smallest frog in the Old World (Asia, Africa and Europe) and one of the world's tiniest was discovered inside and around pitcher plants in the heath forests of the Southeast Asian island of Borneo. The pea-sized amphibian is a species of microhylid, which, as the name suggests, is composed of miniature frogs under 15 millimeters.


The discovery, published in the taxonomy journal Zootaxa, was made by Drs. Indraneil Das and Alexander Haas of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, and Biozentrum Grindel und Zoologisches Museum of Hamburg, respectively, with support from the Volkswagen Foundation. Dr. Das is also leading one of the scientific teams that is searching for the world's lost amphibians, a campaign organized by Conservation International and IUCN's Amphibians Specialist Group.

"I saw some specimens in museum collections that are over 100 years old. Scientists presumably thought they were juveniles of other species, but it turns out they are adults of this newly-discovered micro species," said Dr. Das.

The mini frogs (Microhyla nepenthicola) were found on the edge of a road leading to the summit of the Gunung Serapi mountain, which lies within Kubah National Park. The new species was named after the plant on which it depends to live, the Nepenthes ampullaria, one of many species of pitcher plants in Borneo, which has a globular pitcher and grows in damp, shady forests. The frogs deposit their eggs on the sides of the pitcher, and tadpoles grow in the liquid accumulated inside the plant.

Adult males of the new species range between 10.6 and 12.8 mm -- about the size of a pea. Because they are so tiny, finding them proved to be a challenge. The frogs were tracked by their call, and then made to jump onto a piece of white cloth to be examined closer. The singing normally starts at dusk, with males gathering within and around the pitcher plants. They call in a series of harsh rasping notes that last for a few minutes with brief intervals of silence. This "amphibian symphony" goes on from sundown until peaking in the early hours of the evening.

Amphibians are the most threatened group of animals, with a third of them in danger of extinction. They provide important services to humans such as controlling insects that spread disease and damage crops and helping to maintain healthy freshwater systems. Teams of scientists from Conservation International and IUCN's Amphibian Specialist Group around the world have recently launched an unprecedented search in the hope of rediscovering 100 species of "lost" amphibians -- animals considered potentially extinct but that may be holding on in a few remote places.

The search, which is taking place in 20 countries on five continents, will help scientists to understand the recent amphibian extinction crisis. Dr. Das is leading a team of scientists who will search for the Sambas Stream Toad (Ansonia latidisca) in Indonesia and Malaysia in September. The toad was last seen in the 1950s. It is believed that increased sedimentation in streams after logging may have contributed to the decline of its population.

"Amphibians are quite sensitive to changes in their surroundings, so we hope the discovery of these miniature frogs will help us to understand what changes in the global environment are having an impact on these fascinating animals," said Conservation International's Dr. Robin Moore, who has organized the search on behalf of IUCN's Amphibian Specialist Group.

To follow the search for the lost amphibians visit: www.conservation.org/lostfrogs .

World's smallest frog find
New Straits Times 26 Aug 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: The world's smallest frog, which is tinier than a five-sen coin, chirps like a cricket and breeds in the carnivorous pitcher plant, has been found in the jungles of Sarawak.

The frog, Microhyla nepenthicola, measuring between 1cm and 1.28cm, was so minute that scientists had developed an unusual way of trapping it by using cloth nappies.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak herpetologist Dr Indraneil Das and Hamburg University's Dr Alexander Haas said they were walking back to their chalets after a long day out in the forest of Kubah National Park when the chirping of the frogs filled the evening air.

"Looking down, we could not see much. Only after lying down completely, then only we could see the tiniest frog imaginable," Indraneil said yesterday. It took two-and-a-half hours to catch the first of several specimens.

Collection was always a challenge until the team improvised by placing a cloth nappy next to the miniature pitcher plant, Nepenthes ampullaria. "Shaking" the plant vigorously, they would then wait until the frogs jumped out.

Indraneil and Haas' findings were formally published last week in the taxonomic journal, Zootaxa.

Mini Frog, Among Smallest in the World, Discovered
LiveScience.com Yahoo News 25 Aug 10;

One of the tiniest frogs in the world, and the smallest ever seen outside of North and South America, has been discovered in the forests of the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.

The pea-sized amphibians (Microhyla nepenthicola) were found near a mountain in Kubah National Park.

"I saw some specimens in museum collections that are over 100 years old. Scientists presumably thought they were juveniles of other species, but it turns out they are adults of this newly discovered micro species," said Indraneil Das of the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, who, along with Alexander Haas of the Biozentrum Grindel und Zoologisches Museum of Hamburg, Germany, discovered the tiny creatures.

The mini frog was named after the plant on which it depends for survival, the Nepenthes ampullaria, one of many species of pitcher plants in Borneo. These plants have a pitcher-shaped, open cavity and grow in damp, shady forests. The frogs deposit their eggs on the sides of the pitcher, and tadpoles grow in the liquid accumulated inside the plant.

Adult males of the newly discovered frog species are just shy of a half inch (10.6 to 12.8 millimeters) long - about the size of a pea. Because they are so tiny, finding them proved to be a challenge.

The frogs were tracked by their call, and then made to jump onto a piece of white cloth to be examined closer. Their singing normally starts at dusk, with males gathering within and around the pitcher plants. They call in a series of harsh rasping notes that last for a few minutes with brief intervals of silence. This "amphibian symphony" goes on from sundown until peaking in the early hours of the evening.

Amphibians are the most threatened group of animals in the world, with a third of them in danger of extinction. They provide important services to humans, such as controlling the populations of insects that spread disease and damage crops, and helping to maintain healthy freshwater systems.

"Amphibians are quite sensitive to changes in their surroundings, so we hope the discovery of these miniature frogs will help us to understand what changes in the global environment are having an impact on these fascinating animals," said Conservation International's Robin Moore.

Conservation International has launched a worldwide search for so-called "lost amphibians," species that have not been seen in several years that could possibly be extinct.

The discovery of the frog is detailed in the journal Zootaxa.

Asia's smallest frog found in Borneo
(AFP) Google News 26 Aug 10;

KUALA LUMPUR — Asia's tiniest frog, a creature the size of a pea, has been discovered in a national park in Malaysia's Sarawak state on Borneo island, researchers said Thursday.

Herpetologist Indraneil Das said he and Hamburg University colleague Alexander Haas discovered the orange-and-red frog when returning from a field trip at the Kubah National Park in 2004.

They finally announced their discovery after taxonomic journal Zootaxa published their findings.

"We heard the calls of this frog and we knew the calls of all frogs in the area and this was different," Das told AFP.

"At first we couldn't see it but eventually we found it and I had to trap the frog in one of my baby son's clean white diapers in order to really see what it looked like, it was so tiny."

The frog measures just 3.0 millimetres when it metamorphoses from a tadpole, and grows to about 9.0 to 11.0 millimetres as an adult. It belongs to the Microhylid family of frogs, which are all under 15.0 millimetres in length.

"The frog is as small as the South American species (of miniature frogs) and is definitely the tiniest in Asia, Africa and Europe," Das said.

It was named Microhyla nepenthicola after the Nepenthes ampullaria, a miniature pitcher plant in which it lives.

Das said the plant lives off decomposing organic matter that collects within it and the frog uses this as a habitat, laying its eggs in the pitcher. When the tadpoles hatch, they live in the gathered liquid until they mature.

"This just shows how much more there is left to discover in the jungles of Borneo, it's just the tip of the iceberg," said the scientist, head of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah states make up Malaysia's half of Borneo island, which is shared with Indonesia.

Das said he will be leading a team into the jungles of Indonesia and Malaysia next month to search for a supposedly extinct toad last seen in 1922, as part of a global project to rediscover 100 species of "lost" amphibians.