A monkey that has striking pinkish-orange lips and a black face (and lives in the forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo) has been confirmed as a new species to science.

The black-furred primate was seen and photographed hiding in the high treetops of the dense tropical forests of Lomami National Park, in the central east of the country.

Conservationists working there reported first seeing this unusual-looking animal in 2008, but only captured a blurry photograph.

After another sighting 10 years later, an international team set out to find and study the monkey and revealed that it was a previously unknown species.

This is only the fifth species of African monkey discovered in the last 75 years.

Junior Amboko, a doctoral student at Florida Atlantic University, played a leading role in the search, which included audio recordings, photographs and detailed genetic studies.

The findings were published in the journal PLoS One., external.

Amboko told BBC News it was an “incredible feeling” to look at the face of an animal that so few people knew existed.