The size of a fingernail, this is one of six new species in its genus discovered in the last two years in southern Brazil

This cute orange toadlet, Brachycephalus pitanga, is only about half an inch long (10-14 mm). It is diurnally active, lives among humid leaf litter and can on occasion be seen in large numbers in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar reserve and nearby, old-growth, lower montane (up to 1,800m in altitude) forest of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. This is the sixth new species in the genus named in the past two years, doubling the number endemic to the coastal rainforest of south-eastern Brazil. The species name, pitanga, was chosen by Ana Alves and her team at the Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, from an indigenous Tupi-Guarani word meaning "reddish".

Quentin Wheeler International Institute for Species Exploration, Arizona State University

www.species.asu.edu