World’s tiniest frog puts PNG on the map

By EMMA ANDY
THE Paedophyrne is the world’s tiniest frog found along the south eastern peninsula of Papua New Guinea.
When asked if it was an infant of a big frog, National Museum and Art Gallery’s Jim Anamiato replied: “It is a tiny adult frog.”
The frog’s genus is scientifically known as Paedophryne. This species has not been formally described since it was found by American biologist Fred Kraus and Anamiato, the acting chief curator of the National Museum and Art Gallery’s Natural History Department, in November 2011.
The frog was found at Mt Brittania, near Marakof village in Tufi District, while Kraus and Anamiato were on a trip to explore PNG’s biodiversity.
A Paedophryne is only found along the southeast peninsula of the Southern region. There are about seven species of the genus discovered and the recent discovery in Tufi is the eighth.
On the afternoon of Nov 14, 2011, the two men were walking in the bushes following the sound of insects, frogs and other nocturnal creatures. During that walk they heard an unfamiliar sharp peep sound coming from under piles of dead leaves on the forest floor. They stopped at the spot where the call was coming from and began clearing the leaves.
To their surprise, a tiny creature jumped out of the leaves and many more followed. They grabbed hold of a few, put them into a plastic bag and returned to the camp where they began examining the specie.
It is common in frogs that the female is larger than the male and the same applies to the Paedophryne. When measured, it is about 8-10mm long and 4mm in width, similar to the size of a house fly. It also is about the same size as the smallest fish on record although there is a slight variation in the size of these frogs.
The species lives on land. Its life cycle is different from others as it does not involve the earlier stage of being a tadpole and evolving into a frog although it is a vertebrate that does have a backbone structure.
During their mating season, the male uses its high-pitched peep sound to call for the female.
The sound can travel at approximately 8400 – 9400 hertz. A female Paedophryne is capable of producing two eggs at a time. They lay eggs under leaf litters where it is damp and wet.
They also play a very vital role during the incubation of the eggs and eventually hatch to become adults. Although small, the species is capable of jumping 30 times its body length.
The species is nocturnal or active during night-time like bats and other insects relating to light. Moreover, they are classified as crepuscular because they are more active during dusk and dawn. In the evenings between 5 and 7 o’clock, the frogs come out to search for food. Kraus said that this species feed on ants and are not poisonous.
A few of the species were flown to Bishop Museum in Hawaii where the genus is determined, however, its type is yet to be formally described, said Anamiato.
The Paedophryne now holds the record of world’s smallest frog. They are currently preserved and held at the Natural History Department of the National Museum and Art Gallery in Port Moresby for research purpose and viewing.
Prior to the recent discovery in Tufi, another form of Paedophryne was found near Amau village in Central Province by an American, Louisiana State University herpetologist Dr Christopher Austin.
This specie was formally described in January 2012 and named after its place of discovery. It was named Paedophryne Amauensis or P.Amauensis in short.
Kraus also found another species of Paedophryne in his recent trip in March 2017 to Milne Bay. The species are currently at the museum awaiting a permit to be flown to the University of Michigan, in the United States, for further analysis.
“There are many species of frogs still out there to be discovered, but too little time. The biodiversity of Papua New Guinea is rich and contains a lot of rare species yet to be discovered,” said Kraus.