''Anodonthyla eximia'' is a species of

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...

from Ranomafana in Eastern Madagascar

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

microhylid The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family of frogs. The 683 species are in 63 genera and 11 subfamilies, which is the largest number of genera of any frog family. Evolution A molecular phylo ...

subfamily

Cophylinae Cophylinae is a subfamily of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It has over 100 species in eight genera. Members of this subfamily range from minute ( 100 mm adult body size), and they are highly ecologically diverse. DNA barcode rese ...

. It is the smallest species of the genus ''Anodonthyla'' and is the only known

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

member of the genus.

Range and distribution

''Anodonthyla eximia'' is only known from Maharira mountain in

Ranomafana National Park Ranomafana National Park is in the southeastern part of Madagascar in Haute Matsiatra and Vatovavy. With more than 41,600 hectares (161 square miles) of tropical rainforest, it is home to several rare species of flora and fauna including th ...

, South Central East Madagascar.

Description

''Anodonthyla eximia'' measures just 11.3 in adult females and 9.7 mm in adult males. Anodonthyla eximia lives on the ground in the leaf litter.(March 28, 2019 Thursday). Meet the mini frogs of Madagascar - the new species we've discovered. Down To Earth. Retrieved from Nexis Uni. It superficially closely resembles other diminutive frogs from Madagascar, such as ''Mini'' and ''

Stumpffia ''Stumpffia'' is a genus of microhylid frogs that are endemic to Madagascar. They are mostly brown frogs that typically live among leaf litter. ''S. contumelia'' has a snout–vent length of about , making it one of the world's smallest frogs ...

'', but males still have a strongly developed, pointed prepollex bone that is typical of ''

Anodonthyla ''Anodonthyla'' is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. Molecular data suggest that it is the sister taxon to all other species in the subfamily Cophylinae. Species The genus contains twelve recognized species: Description One ...

''.

Habitat and ecology

Like most other miniaturised frogs from Madagascar, ''Anodonthyla eximia'' is terrestrial. According to the original description, the only known specimen was collected after cyclonic rains. Males emit high-pitched whistling calls from the leaf litter.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q62737185

eximia ''Eximia'' is a genus of round-necked longhorn beetle The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns, are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by extremely ...

Endemic frogs of Madagascar Amphibians described in 2019 Taxa named by Mark D. Scherz Taxa named by Andolalao Rakotoarison Taxa named by Angelica Crottini Taxa named by Frank Glaw Taxa named by Miguel Vences