Tag: Oceania

Dactylonax kambuayai – eine von zwei Beuteltierarten, die wiederentdeckt wurden
A female Dactylonax kambuayai from the Klalik area on the Vogelkop Peninsula. The species is one of two marsupial species recently rediscovered alive after being known only from fossils for a long time. (© Foto: Carlos Bocos, edited, aus: Flannery et al. 2026, Records of the Australian Museum, CC BY 4.0)

New Guinea: Two marsupials lost for 6,000 years rediscovered

In March 2026, an Australian research team led by zoologist Tim Flannery published two studies with surprising results: On the remote Vogelkop Peninsula in northwestern New Guinea, two marsupial species were found alive that had previously been known only from fossils approximately 6,000 to 7,500 years old. Such rediscoveries are

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Rediscoveries in 2025: Animal species believed to be lost and extinct
In 2025, several animal species returned to the focus of scientific attention after having long been considered lost or even thought to be extinct. (© Shrews: Tatiana Petrova, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Snake: Photo courtesy of Professor Blair Hedges)

Rediscoveries in 2025: These animal species were considered lost or extinct

Species do not simply disappear just because no one has seen them for a long time. And they are just as little “saved” just because they suddenly reappear. Rediscoveries mark a narrow line between hope and uncertainty: they show that life can endure – often, however, only barely. In 2025,

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Bismarck kingfisher (Ceyx websteri) rediscovered
The Bismarck kingfisher, long considered lost, was documented on New Ireland in May 2025. (© Kai Squires, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Rediscovery: Rare kingfisher reappears after 13 years

The Bismarck kingfisher (Ceyx websteri) was considered lost for almost 13 years. Since the last confirmed record in 2012, the species had gone unobserved, raising fears that it might already be extinct. In May 2025, however, the species was confirmed again in Papua New Guinea: researcher John Lamaris documented a

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Segelflossen-Glatthai (Gogolia filewoodi) - Männchen, 73 cm
First ever documented male of the sailback houndshark, caught near the Gogol estuary in 2022. The extremely long-based first dorsal fin makes the species unmistakable. Its very large, elliptical eyes are also striking. (© Sagumai et al. (2025), Journal of Fish Biology, doi:10.1111/jfb.70196, CC BY 4.0)

Rediscovery off Papua New Guinea: The sailback houndshark is back

One of the rarest shark species in the world has reappeared off the coast of Papua New Guinea after more than 50 years: the sailback houndshark (Gogolia filewoodi). A WWF team led by marine biologist Jack Sagumai documented a total of six specimens near the mouth of the Gogol River

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Mussauraupenfänger nach 44 Jahren wiederentdeckt
The Mussau caterpillarcatcher, considered missing since 1979, was rediscovered in June 2024 on the island of Mussau in Papua New Guinea. (© Photo by Joshua Bergmark/Ornis Birding Expeditions)

Mussau Triller: Lost Bird Species Rediscovered After 44 Years

The Mussau triller (Lalage conjuncta), last documented in 1979, was rediscovered in June of this year by Australian bird photographer Joshua Bergmark during a tour with a group of birdwatchers. This songbird species, part of the cuckooshrike family, is endemic to Mussau Island, located in the Bismarck Archipelago north of

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Georg Forster: Image of the Tongatapu rail?
An illustration of the extinct Tongatapu rail, created between 1772 and 1775, by Georg Forster? (© George Forster, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Tongatapu rail

The only specimen is now lost Quite a few bird species of the past were described from only a single specimen that is now lost. One of them is the Tongatapu rail. Of this rail species (family Rallidae), historical reports and descriptions have survived that are based on observations and

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Tonga-Skink (Tachygyia microlepis)
The Tonga ground skink is known from only two specimens collected on Tongatapu in the early 19th century. The species reached a snout–vent length of almost 18 centimeters, plus tail. (© Journal, German & Ineich, Ivan & Böhme, Wolfgang. (2024). Was it premature to declare the giant Tongan Ground Skink Tachygyia microlepis extinct?. Salamandra. 60. 82-93.)

Tongan Ground Skink

From the South Pacific to the museum—the last Tongan ground skinks The Tongan ground skink, a giant lizard, is known only from two specimens that are now housed in the Natural History Museum of Paris. The French doctors and naturalists Jean-René-Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard collected the two animals

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Wiederansiedlung auf Palmyra: Guam-Liest
A Guam kingfisher from the conservation breeding program at the San Diego Zoo in the USA. (© Kjunstorm, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Guam kingfisher: Reintroduction to Palmyra after extinction in the wild

The Guam kingfisher, last seen in the wild in 1986, is now poised to return to nature. After successful breeding in captivity, it is planned to release the offspring of this nearly extinct bird species on Palmyra Atoll. This remote atoll, located about 1,600 kilometers southwest of Hawaii, offers a

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Neue Käferart: Semanopterus kingstoni
The newly discovered scarab beetle species Semanopterus kingstoni was named after entomologist Tim Kingston, who had collected the only known specimen in 1979. (© Reid, Chris & TEES, NATALIE. (2023). A new, but possibly extinct, species of Semanopterus Hope, 1847 from Lord Howe Island, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae). Zootaxa. 5306. 563-570. 10.11646/zootaxa.5306.5.4.)

New beetle species with unique trait discovered on island

Australian researchers recently discovered a previously unknown species of scarab beetle (Scarabaeidae) in the insect collection of the Australian Museum in Sydney. The specimen in question, a female, was collected on January 30, 1979 on Lord Howe, a small island of only 14 square kilometers in the southwest Pacific. The

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Attenborough-Langschnabeligel (Zaglossus attenboroughi) wieder entdeckt
Like platypuses, echidnas are curious mammals: spiny hedgehog-like creatures with a long, toothless beak that also lay eggs. The photo shows the specimen of Attenborough's long-beaked echidna collected in 1961, which is now housed at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. (© Naturalis Biodiversity Center, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Lost Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna rediscovered after more than 60 years

Until recently, only a single specimen of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi) was known, collected by a Dutch botanist in 1961 in the forests of the Cyclops Mountains in western New Guinea. Now—62 years later—the shoebox-sized animal from the echidna family was tracked down again using camera traps. This was

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