Paedophryne amauensis is what scientists now call the world’s smallest animal with a spine.

The adult frogs range around three-tenths of an inch. When describing the species, Christopher Austin an enviromental biologist of Louisiana State Univerit, had to englarge his close-up photos to be able to identify characteristics.

The frogs are native to Papau, New Guinea and were discovered by Austin on as research mission he took of in 2009. On his mission he found several tiny species but the Paedophryne amauensis was the smallest.

At the time Austin had knowledge of the worlds smallest animal vertebrae but believed that the frog was small enough to challange the deep-sea anglerfish. The deep-sea anglerfish is a parasite that lives on the bodies of female fish and was disvoered back in 2006.

Upon challenging the anglerfish it was discovered that the anglerfish spine was 2 millimeters shorter than the Paedophryne amauensis. Despite the difference it was also stated that spine sizes of either species may range based on whether it is a male or female. Aside from all the information and disputes the Paedophryne amauensis was named as the smallest vertebrae known to man.