Pumpkin Toadlets: What’s So Special About These Frog Species and Why Are They Called ’Clumsy Jumpers’?

A team of researchers recently proposed an explanation for why pumpkin toadlets are such clumsy jumpers.

As indicated in a ScienceNews report, some frogs "cannot stick at landing." After they launch into a leap, pumpkin toadlets wobble through the as it flung from the fist of the toddler.

The frogs roll, cartwheel, or backflip and then plummet to the ground, frequently belly-flopping or crashlanding on their backs.

According to Vertebrate zoologist Richard Essner, Jr., from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, he has looked at many frogs, which are the weirdest things he has ever seen.

High-Pitched Calls of the Amphibians

When the zoologist saw videos of the awkward aerial maneuvers of the Brachycephalus frog, he got so astonished that he hopped on a plane to examine the animals with his colleagues in Brazil.

Tiny enough to fit on a person's thumbnail, the frogs are quite tough to find in the wild. Scientists are listening to the high-pitched, buzzy calls of the amphibians and then scoop leaf leather into a bag with the hope of finding a few toadlets.

In their study published in Science Advances, the research team suggested that the animals lack the proper gyroscopic equipment to sense tiny changes in rotation.

The research team used high-speed video in the laboratory to record over 100 small frog jumps. The awkward tumbles proposed that the toadlets have trouble getting used to space.

Crawling 'Really Slow'

Usually, fluid sloshing through the bony tubes in the inner ear help vertebrates in sensing the position of their body. CT scan showed that the tubes of the frogs are the tiniest ever recorded for adult vertebrates.

Investigations of other small animals have suggested that the tubes do not work so well in miniature. According to Essner, it is difficult for the fluid to flow freely.

Meaning that the frogs possibly cannot sense how they are twirling through the air, making it difficult to prep for landing.

Bony back plates may offer some species crash protection, although the animals may remain grounded for safety. As observed by the zoologist, the fogs are nearly always crawling "really slow."

The 'Pumpkin Toadlet'

In 2021, the pumpkin toadlet was first discovered as a frog species. As reported by CNET, in the Atlantic Forest's dense greenery along the east coast of Brazil, scientists have found the then-new species of small frogs, just slightly bigger than a thumbnail.

The species, Brachycephalus Rotenbergae, is a tiny, bright, and extremely poisonous amphibian called "pumpkin toadlet."

The B. rotenbergae was spotted south of the Mantiqueira mountain range in São Paulo, brazil. The said region is home to a few dozen pumpkin toadlet species that share a number of characteristics.

The most evident is that they are colored similar to a hearty, sumptuous pumpkin soup or an orange soda.

More Toadlets Discoveries in Brazil

To identify the tiny species, the Brazilian researchers performed a number of analyses, investigating the size and shape of toadlets, examining their bones, sifting through their genes, and listening to its usual frog song.

From October 2017 until September 2019, the researchers spent time at two different sites in the Atlantic Forest.

Seventy-six field surveys were carried out, mostly during daylight hours, so that the scientists would understand the history and activity of the then newly discovered species.

A report about the reason pumpkin toadlets are clumsy jumpers is shown on Science X's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Amphibians in Science Times.