The world's smallest known vertebrate is a frog the size of a housefly. In length, these forest inhabitant grows no more than 8 millimeters!

An unusual species of frogs was discovered by scientists in 2009 during a research of the wildlife in New Guinea in the vicinity of the village of Amau. It was possible to find a tiny animal with the help of special equipment that records the sounds of insects. The researchers drew attention to strange sounds similar to croaking and began to find out who could make them. They did not immediately manage to see the tiny frogs. Desperate to find the source of unusual sounds, the scientists took a handful of fallen leaves and carried it to the laboratory. Only there they could find a small frog jumped out of the foliage. So this way a new species of tiny frogs was discovered, which was named like the village where they were first discovered - Paedophryne amauensis.

At an average of 7.7 millimeters long, the newfound Paedophryne amauensis is a hair smaller than the previous record holder, the fish species Paedocypris progenetica, whose females measure about 7.9 millimeters. 

Frogs are so small that it is difficult to see the pattern of their earthy skin with the naked eye. These animals are very difficult to catch, as they prefer to live in fallen leaves, where they can safely hide from enemies.

Scientists have found that these amphibians are incredibly good jumpers - they can jump a distance of 30 times longer than their body size.