LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- Scientists have discovered a new species of giant rat in a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea . The newly discovered rat is similar in size and weight to this one found by scientists in 2007 . Measuring 82 centimeters ( 32.2 inches ) from nose to tail and weighing around 1.5 kilograms ( 3.3 pounds ) , the species is thought to be one of the largest rats ever to be found . The discovery was made by a team from the BBC Natural History Unit inside the crater of Mount Bosavi -- an extinct volcano in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea . `` This is one of the world 's largest rats . It 's a true rat , the same kind you find in the city sewers , '' said Kristofer Helgen , a biologist from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History , who was part of the expedition team . Initial examinations of the rat -- provisionally named the Bosavi woolly rat -- suggest that it belongs to the Mallomys -- a genus of rodents in the muridae family which are the largest living species of rodent . In 2007 , a similar species of giant rat was found in the Foja Mountains in the Papua province of Indonesia in New Guinea Island . The team of scientists which made the new discovery included experts on bats , birds , mammals and reptiles found a number of new species . George McGavin , a Research Associate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and The Department of Zoology of Oxford University told CNN : `` It 's hard to be sure exactly how many new species we have found , but it is more than 30 . `` To find new species of insects in this region is n't uncommon , but we found sixteen new frog species , one new bat species and at least three new fish , and this giant bloody rat -- the size of a cat . Amazing ! '' McGavin said the inside of the crater -- which he says measures around three kilometers in diameter -- was spectacular . `` The animals inside this crater were unafraid of humans , pretty much because they had n't seen them very much , '' McGavin said . Most local inhabitants , McGavin explained , tend to hunt outside the crater . `` They do n't really go into the crater to hunt because it 's such a trek up and back down from it . '' The newly discovered rats are n't the world 's largest rodent species . Native to South America , capybaras -- which look more like hairy pigs than rats -- weigh in at around 55 kilograms and can be up to 1.5 meters long . McGavin and the team spent six weeks in the region investigating species . During that time it became abundantly clear to the team just how endangered these habitats are . `` What we are trying to do , '' said McGavin , `` is highlight the fact that these habitats are terribly threatened . In fact , only 20 miles away from where we were the wood was being extracted . '' Research published in the journal Biotropica in June 2008 estimated that over a quarter of Papua New Guinea 's forests had been either destroyed or damaged between 1972 and 2002 . `` Humans ca n't seem to agree on anything , but we should at least agree that forest habitats like this one should be conserved ; not only because 80 percent of the world 's species live in forests , but if we are going to avoid the worst affects of global warming we 've got to keep these forests , '' McGavin said . Next March , the team is traveling to Bhutan in search of more new species .
Scientists find new species of giant rat in rainforests of Papua New Guinea 's . Rodents measures around 1.5 kilograms in length and weighs 82 centimeters . Researchers also dicovered 15 new species including over 30 new types of frog .