The New Species of Miniature Frog (Microhyla nepenthicola)

As promised, I have been researching the species that I posted about yesterday morning. Today I found some more information on the Miniature Frog (Microhyla nepenthicola) which was discovered in Borneo in August of this year. The article I found can be found here.

This species of frog was found inside a species of pitcher plant named Nepenthes ampullaria. These plants live in areas which have nutrient poor, acidic soils and this makes it difficult for them to take in the nutrients they need. They have solved this problem by developing cavities that trap insects and kill them with a liquid. The frog has taken advantage of these cavities. It deposits its eggs on the side of the pitcher so that when they hatch, the tadpoles can enter the liquid in the cavities and grow.

M. nepenthicola is part of an amphibian family called microhylid. The family consists of frogs that are under 15mm long and according to Conservation International (CI), this species of frog is the smallest that has been discovered in this family. Adult males measure from 10.6 to 12.8mm long. Their amazing size can be seen on the picture below which was taken by Indraneil Das/ Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation and shows the frog on the side of a penny. It was thought that their tiny size could be the reason why this species has not been discovered until now. However, specimens that are the same species as this frog have been found in museum collections that are over 100 years old. They were not recognised as a new species and it was thought that they were merely juvenile frogs from other microhylid species.

Scientists discovered the frogs by tracking their call. It has been discovered that individuals of M. nepenthicola start singing at dusk with harsh notes. They sing for a few minutes at a time with intervals of quietness. The singing starts when the males gather within and around the pitcher plants and peaks in the early hours of the evening.

This discovery is part of the campaign that the CI and IUCN’s Amphibians Specialist Group are running. The campaign aims to rediscover many species of amphibians that are considered “potentially extinct”. According to the IUCN, these “lost amphibians” may still be living in remote parts of the world. The conservation status of amphibians will likely be highlighted with this campaign. Numbers of amphibians are currently declining world-wide due to use of pesticides, habitat destruction and other man-made problems. At least one third of all amphibians are currently classed as “threatened”. If you are interested, the campaign can be followed here.

New Species According to MSN News

This morning I noticed an article on MSN News (news.uk.msn.com) about several new species that have been discovered. Most of the species were discovered in deep sea expeditions off Canada's Atlantic Coast and the Sangihe Talaud Region off Indonesia. I'm going to tell you about the species from the information that MSN gives but I will do some more research on these species at a later date as they intrigue me! If you click on the bold names of the species it will take you to the MSN page with them on. These photos are not mine, they are from the MSN website.

1) A Deep-Sea Chimaera

This image was provided to MSN by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Chimaeras share an evolutionary history with sharks and only branched into separate species 400 million years ago. They have mechanoreceptors that detect pressure of the water around them and they use these to navigate in the ocean. These can be seen in the photo, they are the lines on the organism. Ampullae de lorenzini near the mouth can detect electrical fields generated by other organisms. These will also help in navigation and maybe in avoiding predators and detecting prey.

2) Purple Octopus

This Purple Octopus has not been identified according to MSN. It was one of 11 potentially new species that were found in the deep sea expedition off Canada's coast in July of this year. 

3) Strawberry Crab (New Pedal Crab)

This odd looking crab was discovered by a Taiwanese professor named Professor He Pinghe from the National Taiwan Ocean University. He named it the New Pedal Crab (Xin Hua Ban Xie) but the nickname "Strawberry Crab" stuck after people realised it looked just like a strawberry.

4) Miniature Frog (Microhyla nepenthicola)

A new species of miniature frog (Microhyla nepenthicola) was discovered in August of this year and is about the size of a pea. It lives inside and around Pitcher Plants in forests on the island of Borneo. It is part of the Microhylid family which consists of miniature frogs that are under 15mm in size.

5) Sea Star

 This Sea Star is thought to be a new species and was found off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada during a 20-day research trip off Canada's Atlantic coast.

6) Sea Sponge

This odd looking creature was photographed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration near Indonesia. It is a flower like sponge which is thought to be carnivorous.

7) Unidentified Octopus

This species of Octopus was also found in the expedition off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada and has yet to be identified. 

8) Sea Lily

This photograph of a Sea Lily was taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Lily was found 516 metres below the ocean surface in a region off Indonesia

9) Octopus

This photo of an unidentified Octopus was taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This Octopus was also found off the coast of Indonesia.