New ‘stone’ frog discovered in Vietnam
In the rugged limestone hills of northern Vietnam, scientists have discovered a new species of frog that looks like a small piece of rock. Researchers have named it the stone leaf-litter frog or Leptolalax petrops, derived from the Latin words petra, meaning “rock”, and –ops, meaning “having the appearance of”. The frog, measuring only about two to five centimeters (~0.8 to 2 inches), is dull brown in color and has a gold-copper iris, the researchers report in a new study published in Zootaxa. “The very rough skin texture of females was the feature that stood out the most to me — it made them look like part of the rocks that they were found on,” study author Jodi Rowley, Curator of Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Biology at the Australian Museum Research Institute, said in an email.
