NSF PR 96-86 - December 18, 1996
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Scientists Discover Smallest Frog
A new frog discovered in Cuba by scientists funded
by the National Science Foundation is the smallest
in the Northern Hemisphere, and is tied for the world
record with the smallest frog in the Southern Hemisphere,
says a biologist from Pennsylvania State University
in a paper published in the December issue of the
journal Copeia.
The one-centimeter-long frog also is the smallest
of the tetrapods, a grouping that includes all animals
with backbones except fishes.
Scientists S. Blair Hedges of Penn State and his Cuban
colleagues discovered the tiny orange-striped black
frog living under leaf litter and among the roots
of ferns in a humid rainforest on the western slope
of Cuba's Monte Iberia. Hedges and Cuban scientist
Alberto Estrada gave the frog the scientific name
Eleutherodactylus iberia. Those two words are
more than three times longer than the frog itself.
"NSF's biotic surveys and inventories program is unique
in that its purpose is funding the discovery of species
new to science," says Meredith Lane, director of the
program which funded Hedges' work. "Hedges' results
are gratifying, because a very high proportion of
species in fact remain to be discovered."
Hedges has worked with Cuban scientists to find new
species of snakes, lizards, and frogs in Cuba's rainforests
over the past several years, including a lizard tied
for the world's tiniest. Says Hedges, "You don't often
find species that are the smallest, especially in
a big group like tetrapods."
Cuban scientists restricted by that country's economic
conditions typically have teamed with foreign colleagues
to carry on their work. "The tropical forests in Cuba
are even more fragile and more threatened than those
in the Amazon of South America because they are so
small, less than 10 percent of the island's land area,"
says Hedges. "They are now being cut down at an increasing
rate, mainly for subsistence farming and cooking fuel.
We still have an incomplete knowledge of the biodiversity
on this planet, including areas like Cuba that are
very close to the United States."
Editors: For color photos of the smallest frog
and the text of the Copeia paper, call:
814/863-4682, or send an e-mail message to: science@psu.edu
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