That hope was quickly dashed, but a morsel of consolation is that a much lesser-known creature, unseen for even longer than the Tasmanian tiger, has been found alive.

Dorey told IFLScience his journey to the rainforests of Queensland and northern New South Wales was primarily undertaken for his thesis on the relationships between ground-nesting bees.

If Im going to include Pharohylaeus Id have to find lactiferus, Dorey told IFLScience.

Image courtesy of James Dorey Find it he did, at three sites out of the 245 places he looked, although there were a few false alarms along the way.

P. lactiferus is part of a group called the masked bees that are relatively hairless and have quite remarkable facial markings, Dorey told IFLScience.

This makes them easy to distinguish from other bees, and lactiferus is unusually big and thick, maybe with two ccs, so it can be told apart from most other masked bees.

Dorey reports in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research he only found it on the outskirts of tropical and subtropical rainforests.

Moreover, it only seemed to be interested in the flowers of two trees, the evocatively named firewheels and Illawarra flame trees.

Both of these are bright red, and intriguingly are better known for being pollinated by birds than bees.

Dorey says the key to saving lactiferus is preserving its habitat, and if possibly reconnecting it so separated populations can mix their genes.

Unfortunately, the extensive burning experienced in last years bushfires mean these forests are under more pressure than ever.

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Rare Animals In Australia