Scientist have discovered five new teeny tiny species of frog in Madagascar and three of the species make up a new genus named Mini.
If you don’t believe that these newly discovered frogs are really miniature, let’s talk numbers. The largest frog among the ones that were found is only 14 millimeters long and the smallest is 8 millimeters.
“We were as surprised as you are,” evolutionary biologist and lead author, Mark Scherz, told IFLScience.
Tiny frogs were named Mini mum, Mini scule, and Mini ature. Weird names, but strangely appropriate. The smallest, Mini mum, is just longer than a grain of rice. You’re probably wondering what kind of tricks do researcher use to catch these tiny creatures.
“It takes a lot of practice and patience. You can spend an hour looking for a single calling male, only to fail to catch him in the end. Females you can only really find by chance”, said Scherz. “Fortunately, they are often locally abundant, making things somewhat easier.”
Around 350 species of frog have been found in Madagascar and we won’t be surprised if they find more of these adorable creatures.
