Dr Conrad Hoskins, from James Cook University and Kieran Aland from the Queensland Museum, discovered the new species in isolated piles of boulders while on a research trip to the region
last year.
Dr Hoskins said the new species, the Kutini Boulder-frog and Golden-capped Boulder-frog, are not only new to science, but were previously unknown to the local Lockhart River Aboriginal community.
“It is exciting that in this day and age you can still go out in a fairly well explored country like Australia and find frogs totally new to science," said Dr Hoskins.
“To explore these remote areas for frogs, we had to fly in during the wet season and hike through swamps to get to the boulder fields,” he said.
The species name of the frogs are representative of their environment.
The Kutini Bould Frog, or Cophixalus kulakula, translates as 'rocky place' which symbolises where it was discovered.
The Golden-capped Boulder-frog, species name Cophixalus pakayakulangun, means 'belonging amongst the boulders'.
Dr Hoskins and Mr Aland said the frogs were found in boulder piles in different areas of the Iron Range near Lockart River.
The discovery doubles the number of known boulder-dwelling frog species in Australia - two other species can also be found in Cape
York.
