Description
Noblella myrmecoides is a species of minute leptodactylid frog with snout-vent length ranging from 12.0 mm to 13.6 mm. The head is wider than long; and the head almost as wide as the body. The snout is truncate in dorsal view and rounded in lateral view. The distance between the eye and nostril is less than length of the eye. The canthus rostralis is rounded and weakly concave. Nostrils are weakly protuberant. The interorbital space is flat. The tympanum is round and separated from the eye by three-fourths of the ear’s diameter. There is no supratympanic fold. Dorsal skin has a granular surface with scattered tubercles on flanks. Noblella myrmecoides have no dorsolateral folds. Relative finger lengths are 3 > 2 > 1 > 4. Tips of digits not dilated into pads and no discs or papillae on fingertips. There are two metatarsal tubercles present, with the inner nearly twice as large as outer (Lynch 1976; Heyer 1977).

Noblella myrmecoides can be differentiated by the following combination of characters: broader toe pads ending in distinct papillae; lacking supernumerary plantar tubercles; having brown and cream reticulation on venter and in having a cream dorsal ground color and brown face and anterior flanks; ear present, inner tarsal tubercle present; fifth toe not shortened; snout truncate (Lynch 1976; Heyer 1977; Lynch 1986).

In life, N. myrmecoides’ dorsal surface is reddish-tan with dark brown chevrons connected along the midline. A cream stripe may be present in the middle of the dorsum. The sides of the head and flanks are black, and the ventral surface is grey with white spots. The iris is bronze and contains black flecks (Lynch 1976; Rodríguez and Duellman 1994).

In preservative, N. myrmecoides has a grey to cream dorsum with indefinite brown markings (chevrons, interorbital bar, etc.). There is also a pale interocular band anterior to brown interorbital bar. Limbs weakly barred. Throat brown with small white spots. Ventral coloration is cream with brown marbling. Undersides of tarsus and foot are brown (Lynch 1976).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru

View distribution map in BerkeleyMapper.

Noblella myrmecoides is found in the lowland Amazon basin, and has been recorded in northeastern and southeastern Peru, western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador (Cisneros-Heredia and Reynolds 2007).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
The N. myrmecoides holotype was collected during the day in the leaf litter in a cloud forest, and subsequently found to have large yellow ovarian eggs (Lynch 1976). Noblella myrmecoides is now known to inhabit the leaf-litter of primary tropical forests in lowland, premontane, and montane habitats. Noblella myrmecoides is assume to reproduce via direct development (Jungfer 2010).

Trends and Threats
Noblella myrmecoides is considered a species of “Least Concern” by the IUCN Red list of Threatened species because of its large range and assumed large population sizes. However, N. myrmecoides is not generally found in modified habitats (Jungfer 2010).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

General habitat alteration and loss

Comments
The species epithet myrmecoides comes from the Greek myrmex and –oides, and means ant-like. This is a reference to the frog’s small size (Lynch 1976).

Noblella myrmecoides is synonymous with Euparkerella myrmecoides (Lynch) and Phyllonastes myrmecoides (de la Riva et al. 2008).

References

Cisneros-Heredia, D.F., Reynolds, R.P. (2007). ''New records of Phyllonastes Heyer, 1977 from Ecuador and Peru.'' Herpetozoa , 19, 184-186.

Heyer, W. R. (1977). ''Taxonomic notes on frogs from the Madeira and Purus rivers, Brasil.'' Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia, 31, 141-162.

Lynch, J. D. (1976). ''Two new species of frogs of the genus Euparkerella (Amphibia: Leptodactylidae) from Ecuador and Peru.'' Herpetologica, 32, 48-53.

Lynch, J. D. (1986). ''New species of minute leptodactylid frogs from the Andes of Ecuador and Peru.'' Journal of Herpetology , 20(3), 423-431.

Rodríguez, L. O., and Duellman, W. E. (1994). Guide to the Frogs of the Iquitos region, Amazonian Perú. The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.

de la Riva, I., Chaparro, J.C., Padial, J.M. (2008). ''The taxonomic status of Phyllonastes Heyer and Phrynopus peruvianus (Noble)(Lissamphibia, Anura): resurrection of Noblella Barbour.'' Zootaxa, 1685, 67–68.

Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2021 Phyllonastes myrmecoides <https://amphibiaweb.org/species/2675> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Feb 4, 2025.

Citation: AmphibiaWeb. 2025. <https://amphibiaweb.org> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed 4 Feb 2025.

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