Top 7 th Newly Discovered Species of 2012

World's Tiniest Vertebrate

Photograph courtesy Christopher Austin, Louisiana State University

This newly described frog (Paedophryne amauensis) lives among the leaf litter on the floor of New Guinea's rain forests.

So small that it perches comfortably on the U.S. dime, members of this species are the world's smallest vertebrates. Adults grow to about 0.3 inches (7.7 millimeters), barely shorter than the world's previous record-holder, an Indonesian carp whose females gets as big as 0.31 inches (7.9 millimeters). (Listen to this frog chirp.)

Published May 23, 2013