Question: heeey murray!:D what is the coolest animal/plant you have ever discovered?:)x

Murray Collins answered on 18 Mar 2011:

Hi – thanks for the question. Well, no discovery of any plants or animals which are completely new to science yet, I don’t think. We found a frog in Sumatra that is possibly a new species, but is awaiting identification. It is also very difficult to know if the animals you see are new to science because there are not always complete field guides for what species are known. This is particularly so for things like insects – of which there are loads of different species. Also there are few people in the world who can help identify the species which we already know of (taxonomists), and that number is falling as people retire, and fewer new scientists are being trained in that area.

I photographed a couple of lizards called Phoxophrys tuberculata and Gonocephalus klossi in Sumatra that are quite rare. The photographs were used in a field guide to the lizards of the region, and so the author gave me a copy of the book which was cool.