I’ve been reading about these tiny frogs, a new species only 7.7 millimeters big (about 1/4 inch). You can read the details of their discovery here (where there’s a photo, too) and here (the original research).

To put that tiny size in perspective, one of these frogs could sit on the top of a standard pencil eraser. Yet it has a brain, a heart, and a backbone, just like all other amphibians. How could such tiny vertebrate animals evolve and survive is one of the questions the researchers hope to answer. What are the constraints of size on vertebrates?

Which made me wonder… what’s the largest living frog? That honor goes to the Goliath frog which grows up to 33 cm (13 inches). But the world’s largest extinct frog is the “Frog from Hell” Devil Frog, whose fossil found in Madagascar show it to be 41 cm (16 inches).

And to find more about all kinds of strange and unusual frogs, check out this Oddee list. #2 on the list, the transparent frog, is fascinating.