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Description
Males 14-17 mm, females
18-23 mm. The body is thin, except for
gravid females. The dorsum has an
irregular pattern formed by patches of
different shades of brown. Very close
examination may reveal tiny green dots
among the brown. The fore part of the
ventral surface is black, and the hind
part of the belly is white with black dots.
The hind legs are longer than the body.
Distribution and Habitat
Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela
The
species is frequently found throughout
the Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke in Brazil, but is more common in
the low-lying areas around streams in
the eastern half.Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The species is
terrestrial and diurnal, and normally
encountered in low-lying areas near
streams. The diet consists principally of
ants, beetles, mites and collembolans.
Reproduction occurs in the wet season
from November to May. Females lay
about 70-250 pigmented eggs during
the day or night. Clutches are deposited
on roots, tree trunks or fallen leaves near
shallow ponds that are formed
principally by rain water. Tadpoles, which
are small (maximum length about 18 mm),
with cream bodies and transparent fins,
can be found in small (generally
20-50 cm2) pools beside larger pools Comments
Juvenile Bufo proboscideus are similar in general
form, but the hind legs are longer than
the body in A. minuta, and shorter
than the body in B. proboscideus. The
ventral surface is gray to brown in B. proboscideus.
A note on its taxonomy:
When Fouquet used Amazonella in 2012, he was unaware of its original description in 1931 of an Amazonian water mite, thus making it a junior homonym of Amazonella Lundquist 1931. Fouquet et al (2012) therefore proposed Amazophrynella nom. nov. as a replacement name, derived from the words Amazonia (its regional distribution), phryne (meaning toad in Greek) and the feminine diminutive suffix "-ella" referring to its small size (Fouquet et al. 2012).
References
Fouquet, A., Recoder, R., Teixeira, M., Cassimiro, J., Amaro, R.C., Camacho, A. Damasceno, R., Carnaval, A.C., Moritz, C., Rodrigues, M.T. (2012). ''Amazonella Fouquet et al., 2012 (Anura:Bufonidae) junior homonym of Amazonella Lundblad, 1931 (Acari:Unionicolidae): proposed replacement by Amazophrynella nom. nov. CORRESPONDENCE.'' Zootaxa, 3244, 68.
Originally submitted by: Albertina P. Lima, William E. Magnusson, Marcelo Menin, Luciana K. Erdtmann, Domingos J. Rodrigues, Claudia Keller, Walter Hödl (first posted 2007-11-14)
Edited by: Tate Tunstall, Michelle S. Koo (2012-05-15)Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2012 Amazophrynella minuta <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/329> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Apr 16, 2024.
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Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2024. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 16 Apr 2024.
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