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	Conservation Status (definitions)
IUCN (Red List) Status	Critically Endangered (CR) See threat category on Global Amphibian Assessment web site.
CITES	No CITES Listing
Other International Status	None
National Status	Vulnerable (Cuban Conservation Action Management Plan)
Regional Status	None

Description
Eleutherodactylus iberia is tied for the world's smallest tetrapod with another frog, Brachycephalus didactylus (a Brazilian brachycephalid). Both reach only about 10 mm in adult SVL. It is currently the only species of Eleutherodactylus to reach such a small size.

Dorsal skin is weakly rugose without dorsolateral folds. Head as wide as body and is as long as is wide. Snout subacuminate in dorsal and lateral view. Canthus rostralis is rounded and slightly concave when viewed dorsally. Loreal region is flat and sloping abruptly. Supratympanic fold is weakly defined and covers upper edge of tympanum (which is round and larger in males, higher than wide and smaller in females). Tympanum is separated from eye by a distance less than its own diameter. Vomerine teeth absent. Finger and toe tips are rounded and very thin.

This small frog has a dorsal coloration of dark brown with a vivid coppery stripe on the canthal region which gradually changes to orange over the eyelids, becoming golden yellow and white behind the eyes, then continuing posteriorly and becoming a discontinuous dorsolateral stripe near the vent. The loreal region is dark brown along with the flanks. The flanks also have a discontinuous white line which separates the flank coloration from vthe entral coloration. Forelimbs have an orange bar on them. Thighs have diagonal white lines crossing from the vent to the knee. Ventral coloration is a deep purple (Estrada and Hedges 1996).

Distribution and Habitat

Country distribution from AmphibiaWeb's database: Cuba

View distribution map using BerkeleyMapper.

Known from near Nibujon at sea level (Gomez and Alonso 2000) and the type locality at Arroyo Sucio (Anacleto) Arriba, on the western slope of Monte Iberia, Holgun Province, Cuba at 600 m elevation (Estrada and Hedges 1996).

Life History, Abundance, Activity, and Special Behaviors
Collected during the day and night under leaf litter and among the roots of ferns in a secondary hardwood forest on the western slope of Monte Iberia. This region receives a lot of rainfall (> 1600 mm/year) and has high humidity year round. A female was collected a few centimeters from her single egg. The clutch size appears to be one, as is also true for the related species E. limbatus, E. cubanus, and E. orientalis (Estrada and Hedges 1996).

Eleutherodactylus iberia has a low frequency call which consists of a series of irregular "chirps" similar to those of E. limbatus and E. orientalis The dominant frequency of E. iberia's call is 5.78 +/- .07 kHz. (Estrada and Hedges 1996).

Trends and Threats
Mining is perhaps the greatest threat to this species as there are large mineral deposits in the areas where the species is known to occur, pesticides are also cited as a problem (Gomez and Alonso 2000).

Possible reasons for amphibian decline

Mining
Local pesticides, fertilizers, and pollutants
Long-distance pesticides, toxins, and pollutants
Predators (natural or introduced)

Comments
This is thought to be the smallest frog in the northern hemisphere (Gomez and Alonso 2000). Miniaturization has occurred across five families of frogs (Brachycephalidae, Eleutherodactylidae, Leptodactylidae, Microhylidae, and Sooglossidae), and with it come constraints in morphological development, including digital reduction and loss of vomerine teeth. Miniaturized frog species also tend to have high-frequency calls (>5 kHz) and to have clutches with very small numbers of eggs (sometimes only one egg). The eggs are direct-developing, hatching directly into froglets and bypassing the tadpole stage (Estrada and Hedges 1996).

References
 

Estrada, A. R., and Hedges, S.B. (1996). ''At the lower size limit in tetrapods: a new diminutive frog from Cuba (Leptodactylidae: Eleutherodactylus).'' Copeia, 1996(4), 853-859.  

Gomez, A. R., and Alonso, R. (2000). ''Threatened amphibians of Cuba.'' Froglog, 2000(37), 5-6.

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