Common Name: Beautiful Pygmy Frog, Guangdong Rice Frog, Marbled Pygmy Frog, Marbled Narrow-mouthed Frog
Scientific Name: Microhyla pulchra
Family: Microhylidae – Narrowmouth Toad family
Location: Cambodia, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Thailand, and Vietnam
Introduced Location Guam
Size: 1.1 – 2.0 inches (3 – 5 cm)
The Beautiful Pygmy Frog lives on the forest edges, grasslands, and scrublands. The female frogs are larger than the male frogs. The frogs breed from March to July. The male frogs call out from shallow, temporary pools of rain water. Once the female frog arrives, the male grasps her from behind in amplexus. Next, the female lay her eggs and the male frog fertilizes them. The female frog lays between 968 to 1741 eggs. Neither parent provides any care for their offspring. The eggs hatch into tadpoles.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assesses the Beautiful Pygmy Frog as Least Concern for Extinction due to the frog’s wide range and large population. There are some minor threats to the frog including over harvesting for food and heavy metal accumulation from mining projects.