World's Smallest Vertebrate Discovered

The tiniest frog and the tiniest vertebrate that currently exist on the planet Earth was discovered recently in a rainforest on the island of Papua New Guinea. Before the discovery of this frog, a tiny transparent fish from Indonesia was the world record holder for tiniest vertebrate at eight milimeters long. The frog however, is slightly smaller than that, measuring only 7.7 millimeters (average species size for adults). The tiny size of the the frog, its habits and its habitat all contribute to why it wasn't found before.

The frog, which currently has no common name except for "the tiniest frog from Papua New Guinea", has the scientific name of Paedophryne amauensis. It sounds like an insect with the high-pitched mating call it makes. It is dark brown with black patches and blue-white dots. It can jump 30 times the length of its body.