Brachycephalus ephippium
Silhouette: Jose Carlos Arenas-Monroy · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The pumpkin toadlet (Brachycephalus ephippium), or Spix's saddleback toad, is a small and brightly coloured species of frog in the family Brachycephalidae. This diurnal species is endemic to southeastern Brazil where it is found among leaf litter on the floor of Atlantic rainforests at an altitude of 200–1,250 m (660–4,100 ft). It is found in Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, southeastern São Paulo and southeastern Minas Gerais. Although its type specimen supposedly was collected in Bahia about 200 years ago, there are no confirmed localities in this state and recent reviews consider it more likely that it was from Rio de Janeiro. B. ephippium is locally common, quite widespread compared to most other species of Brachycephalus and it is not considered threatened.
B. ephippium feeds on tiny invertebrates and breeds by direct development, with the female laying a few eggs on land that hatch into young toadlets (no tadpole stage). B. ephippium is a very small frog with a snout–to–vent length of 12.5–19.7 mm (0.49–0.78 in) in adults, but it is among the largest in its genus together with species such as B. ferruginus and B. garbeanus. Females tend to be larger... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pumpkin Toadlet sighting in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Pumpkin Toadlet in Itatiaia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January, March–August and October, the lowest months. That is one of Itatiaia National Park's wettest months, with about 290 mm of rain against 25 mm in July.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pumpkin Toadlet sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Itatiaia National Park, in our data
Itatiaia National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Pumpkin Toadlet sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Anura
The closest relatives of the Pumpkin Toadlet that you can see in Itatiaia National Park (order Anura, Frogs and Toads) are Maldonada redbelly toad (about 40%), Yellow Cururu Toad (about 40%) and Blacksmith Tree Frog (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pumpkin Toadlet is recorded against all the amphibians logged in Itatiaia National Park (5 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
