Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Material on this page was provided by Paul Smith, Christoph Liedtke and Laura Tensen and is used with their permission.
LESSER TREE-FROG Dendropsophus minutus
A tiny, tree-frog barely larger than your thumb-nail. Despite their small size they are the owners of a big voice, calling a loud, rasping SSHHICK from October through to March. This species can change colour, the brown individual in Gallery 1 was actually yellow when it was caught the night before. Lesser Tree-frogs are easily confused with the Dwarf Tree-Frog - note the vaguely striped pattern of the upperparts of this species!
Click on the images to enlarge them.
Gallery 1: Brown Adult
FIGURE 1a - (FPANF327PH) Brown adult, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007).
FIGURE 1b - (FPANF328PH) Same individual upperside (Paul Smith March 2007).
FIGURE 1c - (FPANF329PH) Same individual underside (Paul Smith March 2007).
FIGURE 1a

FIGURE 1a
FIGURE 1b

FIGURE 1b
FIGURE 1c

FIGURE 1c
Dendropsophus minutus
1 (FPANF335RE) Call  recorded PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007).
Click the links to hear the calls.
Gallery 2: Colour variation in adult Dendropsophus minutus
Like many Anurans skin colouration of this species is highly variable. Above are some examples of photochromatism found in this species.
FIGURE 2a - (FPANF330PH) Yellow pair, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Christoph Liedtke November 2008).
FIGURE 2b - (FPANF331PH) Green adult, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Laura Tensen March 2008).
FIGURE 2c - (FPANF332PH) Orange adult singing, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Christoph Liedtke November 2008).
FIGURE 2d - (FPANF333PH) Orange adult, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Paul Smith February 2010).
FIGURE 2e - (FPANF334PH) Orange adult, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Paul Smith February 2010).
FIGURE 2a

FIGURE 2a
FIGURE 2b

FIGURE 2b
FIGURE 2c

FIGURE 2c
FIGURE 2d

FIGURE 2d
FIGURE 2e

FIGURE 2e