Stats

Lifespan

1-3 yrs

Size

Tiny

Diet

Insectivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Subtropical forest

Range

North America

Movement

Hopping

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Rare

About

This tiny frog lives among the damp leaf litter of Texas and northern Mexico. It skips the tadpole stage entirely, hatching from eggs as fully formed miniature adults.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A jelly-coated egg is laid in water and develops over days into an aquatic larva.
2. 2.
   tadpole

   A gilled tadpole swims and grazes on algae, slowly absorbing its tail and growing limbs.
3. 3.
   juvenile

   A near-adult amphibian leaves the water with new legs and lungs, smaller than the mature form.
4. 4.
   adult

   Fully grown at adult size, breathing air.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Amphibia

Order

Anura

Family

Eleutherodactylidae

Genus

Eleutherodactylus

Species

Eleutherodactylus cystignathoides