New species found in remote rainforest at Cape Melville range

THREE "dramatic new species" have been discovered in a remote Cape York rainforest located on top of large boulder fields.

The new species of leaf-tailed gecko sits on a tree trunk in the patches of rainforest on the top of the boulder fields of the Cape Melville Range.

THREE "dramatic new species" have been discovered in a remote Cape York rainforest located on top of large boulder fields.

The new species include a 20cm long leaf-tailed gecko, a new species of boulder frog and a new species of shade skink.

Biologist Conrad Hoskin made the incredible discovery at the Cape Melville range when he and a team of National Geographic explored the unique region on the eastern coast of the peninsula where large boulders protect a rainforest from the elements.

"This is a truly wild place, so hard to get to, on an amazing misty plateau of rainforest on top of large black boulder fields," Dr Hoskin told The Australian.

"It's protected by the boulder fields, which keep fire out and moisture in, which is quite conducive to hanging on to some really interesting rainforest creatures through time."

"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," he said.

Dr Hoskin, who lectures at James Cook Univeristy in marine and tropical biology, is planning a longer expedition to the Cape Melville range to look for other new species.

Read more about his findings at The Australian online.

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