A new frog, found by listening

The survey team had been recording night-time soundscapes in the reserve for two seasons when a call turned up that matched nothing in the archive. It took another month of wading through leaf litter to find the animal responsible.

The frog is small, brown and easy to overlook, which is why it had been. Genetic analysis confirmed it as distinct from its nearest relative, and the description was published alongside a second discovery from the same reserve — a large fungus new to science.

Both finds underline a point conservationists have made for years: protected areas keep turning up species we did not know we were protecting.