"When we first discovered this species in 2000, we already suspected it might be new to science," says Dr. Frank Glaw, curator of herpetology at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology, lead author on the study. "But it has taken us many years to amass enough information to confidently describe it as a new species."

The team collected data on the genetics, morphology, and the distribution of the species. Several expeditions to northern Madagascar were undertaken that expanded knowledge of this new species. The discovery was announced on August 15 in Salamandra.

One challenge was that Uroplatus garamaso is remarkably similar to another species, Uroplatus henkeli, and has been confused with it in the past. "This is quite common for reptiles from Madagascar," explains Dr. Jörn Köhler of the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. "There are a lot of these so-called 'cryptic species,' which are waiting for taxonomic treatment."

By careful analysis, the authors were able to find some features that differentiate the two species. "The real key was the discovery that the tip of the tongue is blackish in U. henkeli, whereas it is pink in U. garamaso," says Dr. Philip-Sebastian Gehring of the University of Bielefeld, Germany. At 20 cm long, the new species is also a little smaller than U. henkeli, and has a narrower tail.