Warty Wonders: Three New Toads Found in Brazil
Discovered in a single cloud forest, the newfound critters have an unusual way of reproducing.
Marcio Pie was ready to give up.
He and his team had left Paraná, Brazil (map), at the crack of dawn for a long, bumpy ride in a beat-up 4x4. Parking at the base of a mountain called Serra do Quiriri, the group left their vehicle and began a steep ascent into the cloud forest, exhausted and drenched.
Then, Pie heard a quiet croak. Tiptoeing through the forest in nearly complete darkness, he tracked the sound back to a small, red-bellied toad in the branches of a bromeliad. (See "Seven New Mini-Frogs Found—Among Smallest Known.")
Their perseverance had paid off: The team had discovered the first of three new toad species in the cloud forests of southern Brazil. They are
