A new species of diamond frog has been found living in the high altitude forests of the Sorata massif in north Madagascar.

Little is known about the diamond frogs. However, one thing that has been found to apply to almost all of them is that they are burrowers.

This is why these frogs usually have short limbs, round bodies, and large, hard projections on their hands and feet, called ‘tubercles’ that help them dig.

The newly-discovered species seemed unfit for this lifestyle. Its discoverers – Dr Mark Scherz from the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology and his colleagues from Germany – found that not only were the frog’s legs longer, but there was also a subtle difference to its hip, which sets it apart from its relatives.

The researchers decided to name the new species Rhombophryne longicrus because of the animal’s long legs.

“The species epithet is an invariable noun in apposition to the genus name, derived from the Latin words longus (meaning long), and crus (meaning leg),” Dr Scherz and co-authors wrote in a paper in the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution.

Rhombophryne longicrus is thought to be a microendemic due to its distinctiveness. If this is the case, the species could turn out to be at great risk due to the ongoing uninhibited deforestation and forest degradation in the area.

“We recommend an IUCN Red List status of Endangered B1ab(iii) for Rhombophryne longicrus, because it is known only from a single site in a forested area of roughly 250 sq. km, which is not yet incorporated into any protected area,” the scientists wrote in the paper.

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Scherz MD et al. 2015. Leaping towards a saltatorial lifestyle? An unusually long-legged new species of Rhombophryne (Anura, Microhylidae) from the Sorata massif in northern Madagascar. Zoosystematics and Evolution 91 (2): 105-114; doi: 10.3897/zse.91.4979