WORLD / Science & Health

Fanged one of a kind Indonesian frog gives direct birth to tadpoles

This undated photo obtained Wednesday courtesy of Jim McGuire shows a male and female of the new species (Limnonectes larvaepartus). The male is the smaller one, and the frogs were collected on the west coast of the Central Core of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The frog is endemic to this island. In the depths of an Indonesian rainforest, scientists have identified the species as the first known frog that gives birth to tadpoles instead of laying eggs, according to research published Wednesday. | AFP-JIJI/JIM MCGUIRE/HANDOUT

Reuters

Jan 2, 2015

WASHINGTON –

Its fangs are not what makes the newly identified Indonesian frog species Limnonectes larvaepartus unique on Earth. The way it makes babies does.

This little amphibian from the rain forests of Indonesia's island of Sulawesi is the only one of the world's 6,455 frog species to give direct birth to tadpoles, eschewing the common froggy practice of laying eggs, scientists said on Wednesday.

"Reproduction in most frogs could not be more different from human reproduction. In this case, what is most interesting, ironically, is that the reproductive mode is more similar to our own," said herpetologist Jimmy McGuire of the University of California, Berkeley, whose research appears in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

Fanged one of a kind Indonesian frog gives direct birth to tadpoles

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