The Pea-Sized Frog That Croaked Its Way Into the Textbooks

Habitat: found in the Matang Range in Sarawak, Borneo
Status: Not listed

The Matang Narrow-mouthed Frog (Microhyla nepenthicola) had been lurking under scientists’ noses for quite some time, however they weren’t officially described until 2010. Oddly enough, these frogs had been known to science for over 100 years but were always presumed to be a juvenile of some other species.Scientists still had problems tracking them down in the wild. I suppose there is some good reason for this – the frog only reaches lengths of 10.6–12.8 mm when FULLY GROWN! That’s about the size of a pea. No wonder they were so tricky to spot! Luckily, scientists could use a different method to locate these minute frogs… they used their listening ears! As it turns out, these tiny frogs pack a loud voice which is what ultimately lead the scientists to them. he singing starts at dusk, with males gathering within and around the pitcher plants. This “amphibian symphony” goes on from sundown until peaking in the early hours of the evening.

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. The frogs deposit their eggs on the sides of the pitcher, and tadpoles grow in the liquid inside the plant. It is therefore considered a nepenthebiont (check out the wikipedia article on that term; it’s pretty interesting!).