Where is the orange-bellied leaf toad?

So slow, the dawning; so very slow...

As I sat at the computer this morning looking at this pic and that, for some reason I paused at the photos of the tiny (males barely more than 1/2", female to about 3/4") orange-bellied leaf toad, Dendrophryniscus minutus.

"Hmmmm (almost all of my deep thoughts start with 'hmmmmm')," I thought, "When was the last time I saw one of these?"

When I first began traveling to the Iquitos region of Peru, these minuscule bufonids were common. I saw them almost daily on low shrubs at Amazon Camp, at Madre Selva, at Paucarillo, and on dozens of trails in many other villages.

But now, in truth, I think it has been 8 to 10 years since I last saw one. Have I become that much less observant (I don't think so)? Or could these little anurans actually be disappearing, in this case before my very eyes, just as the related Atelopus are before the eyes of others?

More photos under the jump...

Author, photographer, and columnist Richard Bartlett is one of the most prolific writers on herpetological subjects in the 20th century. With hundreds of books and articles to their credit, Richard and his wife Pat have spent over four decades documenting reptiles both in the field and in captivity. For a list of their current titles, please visit their page in our bookstore.