The Brazilian gold frog (Brachycephalus didactylus), also known as Izecksohn's toad[3] or flea-frog,[1] is a very small species of frogs in the family
Brachycephalidae. It is
endemic to southeastern
Brazil and is known from the central part of the state of
Rio de Janeiro and from
Serra das Torres in extreme southern
Espírito Santo.[3]
All three English names are misleading or potentially confusing. Many species in the genus Brachycephalus are bright yellow-orange, hence the name "Brazilian gold frog", but B. didactylus is all brown.[2] "Izecksohn's toad" leads to easy confusion with another species in the genus, B. izecksohni, and both names refer to the herpetologist
Eugênio Izecksohn.[4] "Flea-frog" or "flea-toad" was historically restricted to B. didactylus, once placed in its own genus Psyllophryne instead of Brachycephalus, but a second species, B. hermogenesi, was described in 1998 and two others, B. pulex and B. sulfuratus, have been described since then, bringing it to four species of flea-frogs/toads.[5]
Comparison with other small frog species
At 8.6–10.2 mm (0.34–0.40 in) in snout–to–
vent length,[6]B. didactylus is one of the
smallest frogs in the world. This species and the roughly similar-sized Eleutherodactylus iberia from Cuba were once regarded as the smallest,[7] but several others that are smaller have since been discovered, including the closely related B. pulex at 8–8.4 mm (0.31–0.33 in),[6]Stumpffia contumelia from Madagascar at 8–9 mm (0.31–0.35 in),[8] and Paedophryne amauensis from New Guinea at 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in).[9]
A relative comparison of some of the world's smallest frogs
^
abIzecksohn, E. (1971). "Novo genero e novo especie de Brachycephalidae do estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (Amphibia: Anura)". Boletim do Museu Nacional. Nova Serie, Zoologia. 280: 1–12.
^
abcFrost, Darrel R. (2018).
"Brachycephalus didactylus (Izecksohn, 1971)". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
^Ribeiro, L.F.; Alves, A.C.R.; Haddad, C.F.B.; Dos Reis, S.F. (2005). "Two new species of Brachycephalus Günther, 1858 from the State of Paraná, southern Brazil (Amphibia, Anura, Brachycephalidae)". Bol. Mus. Nac. Rio J. Zool. 519: 1–18.
^Condez, T.H.; Monteiro, J.P.D.; Comitti, E.J.; Garcia, P.C.A.; Amaral, I.B.; Haddad, C.F.B. (2016). "A new species of flea-toad (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil". Zootaxa. 4083 (1): 40–56.
doi:
10.11646/zootaxa.4083.1.2.
PMID27394218.
^Zweifel, Richard G. (1998). Cogger, H.G.; Zweifel, R.G. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 103.
ISBN0-12-178560-2.