A specimen of the Korean crevice salamander (Karsenia koreana) was found in the collection of the Institute for Amphibian Biology, Hiroshima University, Japan. The specimen was collected in 1971 from Mt. Gyeryong, South Korea by a Japanese-Korean research team. This finding indicates that this outstanding plethodontid species had actually been encountered but without appropriate recognition for more than 30 years before its official discovery in 2003 and original description in 2005. This fact suggests that old herpetological collections that have been kept unattended may yield taxonomically and biogeographically important findings.