Bern-led team discovers delicate new creature

On a remote plateau on the island of Borneo, a team of researchers led by a scientist from the Natural History Museum of Bern discovered what it says is a new and unusually delicate species of toad. A photo of the stick-like toad, tinged in a mélange of yellow, brown and orange, with bulging reddish- orange tyres for eyes, makes the leafy green vegetation it is perched on appear enormous by comparison. The museum, in an online statement posted this week, describes the research team led by the scientist Stefan Hertwig as having undertaken “an expedition straight out of an adventure novel”. The expedition to an isolated mountain region was part of a research effort that has been going on since 2001 to study the biodiversity of Borneo – and what can be done to conserve species. The team also involves researchers from the universities of Bern, Hamburg, Germany and Kuching, Malaysia. Ansonia teneritas is the name given to the new species of toad, which belongs to ...