The frogs that can fit on your FINGERNAIL [Images Included]

The frogs that can fit on your FINGERNAIL: Researchers find seven new species of tiny-amphibians in the cloud forests of Brazil

Seven adorable species of frog – each smaller than a thumbnail – have been discovered in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest.

Part of the Brachycephalus family, these tiny frogs are among the smallest terrestrial vertebrates on Earth, with adults usually no bigger than 1cm (0.3 inches) in length.

The miniature frogs live on cloudy mountaintops in the isolated forests, making them vulnerable to threats such as climate change and deforestation.

They each come in a variety of flashy, bright colours, likely meant to warn predators of the neurotoxins in the frogs’ skin.

As a group, Brachycephalus, have been known to inhabit the cloud forests of southern Brazil since the 1880s.

The first species of Brachycephalus was described in 1842 by the famous German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix, yet most species in the genus have been discovered only in the past decade.

Hoping that more of these frogs live in the southern part of the Atlantic Forest, researchers led by Marcio Pie of the Universidade Federal do Paraná visited the rainforest in the states of Parana and Santa Catarina.

Over the course of five years of fieldwork, the team of researchers has provided the largest addition to the known diversity of Brachycephalus, with seven new species.

   

Each of the frogs come in a variety of flashy, bright colours, likely meant to warn predators of the neurotoxins in the frogs’ skin. On the right, the tiny frog Brachycephalus fuscolineatus has yellow skin and a dark green-and-brown stripe running down its back

Brachycephalus verrucosus has orange-hued skin covered with brownish-green bumps. It was found in Morro da Tromba, municipality of Joinville, in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil

The Brachycephalus auroguttatus species has a bright-yellow head a colour that fades to brown on its limbs

 

Brachycephalus olivaceus is a greenish-brown colour (left), while Brachycephalus leopardus sports yellow skin and dark spots (right). The first species of Brachycephalus was described in 1842 by the famous German naturalist Johann Baptist von Spix

 

Researchers found a pair of Brachycephalus leopardus during part of their mating process called amlexus (right). The left image shows their habitat in Brazil