Adorable New Elfin Toad Is Straight Out of Middle-Earth

Far up in the Langbian Plateau in southerly Vietnam , a dim , dark forest lightly breathes with a passing breeze . Billowing murk continually invades and shroud the canopy . Thick , verdant moss blankets every rock and tree diagram , and the landscape painting cry with trickle rivulets of water supply . This gorgeous setting feels like it could host any number of sorcerous beasts , and now , a squad of researchers has reveal a young woodland creature that looks particularly at home plate . Behold , the elfin mountain frog .

In a recent theme in the journalZooKeys , an team of herpetologists led by Nikolay A. Poyarkov Jr. at Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia and the Joint Russian - Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center in Hanoi , Vietnam , describe the entrancing amphibian for the first time . The “ elfin ” descriptor is no hyperbole . The batrachian are itty - wee , growing to no bombastic than a half dollar coin . The dainty woodland sprite sport two small , trumpet - corresponding projections over the eye that resemble pointed ears , and to top it off , the toad ’s scientific name — Ophyrophyrne elfina — literally think “ elfin eyebrow toad . ” I do n’t know about you , but I ca n’t say “ eyebrow ” and “ elves ” in the same sentence without call up abouta very particular Elvenking .

The researchers determined that the elfin mountain toad was a new coinage by make three types of comparison between it and the other two mountain toads with which it shares its habitat on the Langbian Plateau . They took deliberate , relative measuring of its body proportion , shape , and appearance , and using deoxyribonucleic acid sample , found that the elfin mountain toad was genetically distinguishable from the other species . The toad frog all have a high - vend , bird - like call , but each species ’ whistling vocalizations go quite different from one another . base on these difference of opinion , the investigator can say that the elfin mountain toad frog is a truly singular species , until now hidden away in Langbian ’s elfin forest .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

uncommon ecosystem mostly limited to a handful of highlands worldwide , elfin wood really do bet like they were lifted the right way out of Tolkien ’s Middle - Earth . The blotto , cloud - covered crest of Langbian — part of the tumid Annamite Mountains , which unfold throughout easterly Indochina — provides the thoroughgoing condition for these humid , semitropical forests . Elfin timber havesmall , little trees , usually no more than about 30 feet ( 9 metre ) improbable , and canopiesloaded with epiphytes — plants that benignantly take root and grow on the tree trunk and branch of other , typically much larger plant . Mist and fog are ubiquitous in elfin timber , which the plants rely on it as a major source of hurriedness . Together , the diminutive flora and fairy tale aesthetics of these place inhale their name .

It may await like the elfin mountain toad survive in idyllic milieu , but reality for this little Legolas is no fantasy . kick in that the toad is restrict entirely to the small-scale range of its extremely - specific Langbian Plateau nursing home , the researchers note that even though we do n’t have a proficient idea how plentiful it currently is , this brand name new coinage is already vulnerable to extinction from home ground loss .

Here ’s hoping the teensy critters can keep to drop the relief of their day unmolested by human proceedings , skip along mossy brooksides and stopping to eat on what I ’m pretty sure as shooting has to be lembas bread .

William Duplessie