Pumpkin Toadlet

About the Pumpkin Toadlet

The pumpkin toadlet (Brachycephalus ephippium), or Spix's saddleback toad, is a small and brightly coloured species of frog in the family Brachycephalidae. This diurnal species is endemic to southeastern Brazil where it is found among leaf litter on the floor of Atlantic rainforests at an altitude of 200–1,250 m (660–4,100 ft). It is found in Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, southeastern São Paulo and southeastern Minas Gerais. Although its type specimen supposedly was collected in Bahia about 200 years ago, there are no confirmed localities in this state and recent reviews consider it more likely that it was from Rio de Janeiro. B. ephippium is locally common, quite widespread compared to most other species of Brachycephalus and it is not considered threatened.

B. ephippium feeds on tiny invertebrates and breeds by direct development, with the female laying a few eggs on land that hatch into young toadlets (no tadpole stage). B. ephippium is a very small frog with a snout–to–vent length of 12.5–19.7 mm (0.49–0.78 in) in adults, but it is among the largest in its genus together with species such as B. ferruginus and B. garbeanus. Females tend to be larger... Wikipedia →