Gecko that looks like a leaf among new species found in Australia's 'lost world'
Source: the guardian
A leaf-tail gecko, a golden-coloured skink and a boulder-dwelling frog are three new species discovered in a "lost world" in northern Queensland, Australia.
Scientists from James Cook University and National Geographic were dropped by helicopter in March this year into a remote mountain range on Cape Melville, to explore a pristine rainforest strewn with huge black granite boulders.
Within days the team had discovered three highly distinct new vertebrate species – believed to have been isolated for millions of years – as well as a host of other species that may also be new to science.
"Finding three new, obviously distinct vertebrates would be surprising enough in somewhere poorly explored like New Guinea, let alone in Australia, a country we think we've explored pretty well," said Dr Conrad Hoskin of James Cook University, who led the expedition together with Dr Tim Laman from Harvard University. "The top of Cape Melville is a lost world. Finding these new species up there is the discovery of a lifetime – I'm still amazed and buzzing from it."...
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/28/gecko-leaf-new-species-australia-skink-frog-queensland
The newly discovered Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko found in northern Queensland
Herpetologist Dr Conrad Hoskin holds the Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko
The beautiful golden-coloured Cape Melville shade skink
The blotched boulder-frog (Cophixalus petrophilus) was among the three new vertebrate species discovered in Cape Melville, Australia
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