A bat species indigenous to Papua New Guinea, but thought extinct for over a century, has been rediscovered by researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia.

Catherine Hughes and Julie Broken-Brow, students of the university's School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, were attending a field expedition in the Abau coastal district of Papua New Guinea's central province when they snagged one of the rare bats, not reported seen since the first and only specimens were collected in 1890 by an Italian scientist.

Researcher Luke Leung explained in a news release the Pharotis imogene big-eared bat "species was presumed extinct," then his team "captured one individual about 120 kilometers [75 miles] east of the only previous known locality at Kamali."

The New Guinea big-eared bat and the long-eared bat -- which is also often referred to as a big-eared bat -- are distinguishable from all other bats on the island nation by a combination of large ears and a simple nose-leaf located behind their nostrils.

The only scientific information on big-eared bats was taken from the few specimens held by the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Genova, Italy, where the specimens collected in 1890 were housed.

Ecological knowledge is spare for many of Papua New Guinea's lines of bats, as well as a third species that uses ultrasonic calls, or, echolocation, to identify and navigate habitats -- and thereby making species identification and conservation difficult.

"Further studies need to be done to establish whether the New Guinea big-eared bat is one of a small number of mammal species endemic to the south-eastern peninsula region, or if it occurs more widely," Leung said.

"Many of the coastal lowland habitats throughout Papua New Guinea are among the most threatened in the country due to clearing for logging and agriculture, and more field surveys of local bat populations could assess the conservation status of the species and inform future strategies to ensure their preservation," he said.

Recognized internationally as a biodiversity hotspot, Papua New Guinea holds 7 percent of the world's species diversity.