Microhyla beilunensis

The Beilun pygmy frog is a very small Chinese microhylid described from Chaiqiao Town in Beilun District, Ningbo, Zhejiang. Measured males in the original description were 19.08–23.73mm in snout–vent length. Morphometric and genetic analyses distinguished it from the similar Microhyla mixtura, whose type locality lies about 1,342km away beyond major mountain and river barriers. (Zhang et al. 2018, original description)

The species is associated with standing water and inhabits and breeds in hilly paddy fields, pools and grasslands. The original authors suggested that this habitat preference and limited dispersal, combined with barriers such as the Daba and Dabie mountains and the Yangtze River, may have contributed to its genetic separation from Microhyla mixtura. (Zhang et al. 2018, original description)