Herpetologists have discovered a new frog species in the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea which they say is smallest vertebrate ever found. The previously unknown creature, speckled in red and black, measures just 7.7 mm in length from nose to butt. It is so small that end to end more than two would fit on a dime. Chris Austin of Louisiana State University and his colleagues, who discovered the frog on a three-month field trip to the Pacific island, said these creatures make their habitats on fallen leaves on the floor of tropical rain forests. This miniature frog, now dubbed Paedophryne amanuensis, has taken over the title of smallest vertebrate — an animal with a backbone — which was owned by an acidic swamp-dwelling fish from Indonesia called Paedocypris progenetica. “We know very little about their ecology. They probably eat small invertebrates that occupy the leaf litter, ” Austin was quoted as saying by LiveScience.
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