New frog species discovery in Papua New Guinea

This video is called Feet in the Mud: Calling Frogs in Papua New Guinea – Conservation International (CI).

From Wildlife Extra:

Three tiny new frog species discovered in Papua New Guinea

3 new species of tiny frogs from the remarkable region of Papua New Guinea

September 2013. Three tiny new species of frogs have been discovered in Papua New Guinea. Dr Fred Kraus, of the University of Michigan, who in 2011 in Zookeys described the world’s smallest frogs Paedophryne dekot and Paedophryne verrucosa, now adds another 3 species from the genus Oreophryne to the remarkable diversity of this region.

The three new species Oreophryne cameroni, Oreophryne parkopanorum and Oreophryne gagneorum are all rather minute, with total body lengths of around 20 mm. These tiny frogs are still substantially larger than the species that claimed the smallest frog prize in 2011. Paedophryne dekot and Paedophryne verrucosa are only half of the length of the three new additions to the frog diversity of Papua New Guinea, with an astonishingly small body size ranging between 8-9 mm.

The subfamily to which the new species belong is largely restricted to New Guinea and its satellite islands. Of the constituent genera, Oreophryne is presently one of the largest within the Papuan Region.

More discoveries due

“Although the description of these new species now brings to seven the number of Oreophryne species reported from the north-coast region of New Guinea, the presence from these areas of additional specimens of uncertain identity suggests that additional species likely await description,” explains Dr Kraus about the diversity of the genus within the region. “I have at least a dozen more new Oreophryne species remaining to be described from this region, and large portions of this terrain system remain unsurveyed.”

The frogs are described in the latest issue of Zookeys.

Related articles

• Three New Species of Tiny Frogs Discovered in Papa New Guinea (sciencespacerobots.com)
• Three New Frog Species Found in Papua New Guinea (sci-news.com)
• 3 new species of tiny frogs from the remarkable region of Papua New Guinea (eurekalert.org)
• The Art of Papua New Guinea (bernardsinai.wordpress.com)