A new genus and species of rat has been discovered on a remote, mountainous island in Indonesia. The new rodent, with features never seen by the scientific community before, was found in Sulawesi Island by scientists at Museum Victoria in Australia and Louisiana State University, or LSU, in partnership with Indonesian researchers.

The animal, dubbed hog-nosed rat because of its large, flat, pink nose and forward-facing nostrils, reportedly has extremely large ears, long hind legs that may be used for hopping and very long urogenital hairs. The animal is considered genetically different from any other species, because for one, it has especially long incisors compared with other shrew rats.

It is also different from the others because it lacks a jaw muscle attachment point found in most mammals called the coronoid process on the dentary bone. According to LSU Museum of Natural Science Curator of Mammals, Jake Esselstyn, he does not know of any other rodents that have lost the coronoid process completely. This indicates a weak jaw musculature and a diet that does not require vigorous chewing, the team said. They found that the new species eats earthworms and beetle larvae.

The hog-nosed rat, which is the cover story of the Journal of Mammalogy in October 2015, is among the three new species discovered by the research team in the region. In 2012, the scientists found the few-toothed shrew rat, which was named such because it does not have molars and can’t gnaw because of the shape of their incisors. Two years after, the team discovered the Sulawesi water rat, which was known to villagers since they use it as a talisman to protect their homes against fire.

The team describes these discoveries as new species within new genera, because the animals could not be placed within any existing group. The scientists, after sequencing the DNA from the specimens, used molecular evidence to confirm the species’ unique distinctions.

The site of the discovery was a moss-covered habitat on Mt. Dako, which is about 1,600 meters high and a two-day trek from the nearest village. Since 2010, the team has been studying the island of Sulawesi, which they described as geographically complex, mountainous and challenging to scientifically sample.

“There's a lot of biogeographic complexity at Sulawesi. So we’re not too surprised that we’re finding new things. But our team has been a bit surprised by the degree to which these animals are really novel. They are not just subtly different organisms, but really charismatically different,” said Kevin Rowe, senior curator of mammals at Museum Victoria.

Sulawesi Island, formerly known as Celebes, is shaped like a tropical orchid. It is Indonesia's third-largest island with an area of 172,000 square kilometres. The island is known for its great topographical variety-spectacular mountains, scenic coastline, lakes, rice and dense jungles. Because of its geographical challenges, little research has been conducted on the island since the early 20th century.

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