Physalaemus soaresi

Physalaemus soaresi
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Leptodactylidae
Genus:	Physalaemus
Species:	P. soaresi
Binomial name
Physalaemus soaresi Izecksohn, 1965

The Santa Cruz dwarf frog (Physalaemus soaresi) is a frog. It lives in Brazil.^[2][3][1]

Scientists think the frog used to live in forests that were never cut down but they only find it in forests that are growing back now. This is because all the old forests where the frog lives have been cut down. People see it on the dead leaves on the ground near water with plants nearby. Scientists have seen this frog between 0 and 130 m (0 and 427 ft) above sea level.

Scientists have seen the frog in protected places: Floresta Nacional Mario Xavier and the Parque Estadual do Mendanha.^[1]

This frog has young in water that dries up for part of the year. The adult frog makes a nest out of bubbles for the eggs. The eggs hatch into tadpoles, not small froglets.^[1]

Scientists from the IUCN say this frog is in very big danger of dying out. In this part of Brazil, people have changed the forests for many, many years. People cut down trees to get wood to use, make Rio de Janiero bigger, make farms, and make places for cows to eat grass. Some of the places where the frog used to live, for example Barro Branco wetlands, have none of these frogs living there now.^[1]

One of the protected places where the frog lives, Floresta Nacional Mario Xavier, is a national forest. This means that people might come back to cut down more trees one day. As of 2023, no one has cut down trees there in about 40 years.^[1]