Details
Rhinoderma darwinii
Darwin's frog is a tiny frog of southern Chile and Argentina. Males brood tadpoles inside the vocal sac, one of the most unusual forms of amphibian parental care.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives in cool, wet temperate forest, mossy floor and streamside vegetation. Humid southern beech forest is especially important.
Adults are only 2.2-3.5 cm long. A pointed snout and leaflike triangular outline help the brown or greenish body disappear among litter.
Active by day on the forest floor, it freezes like a dead leaf when disturbed. Calls are quiet, and the frog moves through dense low vegetation.
Small insects, mites, spiders and other tiny invertebrates are eaten. The frog hunts among damp leaf litter.
Females lay eggs on land, and males guard them. After hatching, tadpoles are taken into the male's vocal sac and emerge later as tiny froglets.
Logging, wetland degradation and disease threaten the species. Its close relative, the Chile Darwin's frog, may already be extinct, making remaining populations especially important.
