The two frogs were first spotted in 2010 but were not described until December 2015.
Madagascar is a known biodiversity hotspot and scientists continue to find new species. The latest are two new species of frogs that were found on Madagascar’s highest mountain, Tsaratanana Massif.
“Those mountains are home to a high level of native species and are very rarely visited by researchers seeing as there are no roads ‑and barely any paths‑ that lead to the base,” said David Vieites, study author and a scientist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid (MNCN-CSIC).
The two new species, Rombophryne ornata and Rombophryne tany, were first spotted in 2010 but were not yet described until last month.
The frogs are forest floor dwellers, living amongst the leaf litter and are very difficult to find. Rombophryne ornata maintains a reddish coloration with black as well as cream markings. It also sports spines on its eyelids.
Rombophryne tany was deemed a new species via molecular analysis as it does not possess any distinguishing features from other species in the genus. It does share spines over each eye like that of Rombophryne ornata.
