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To date, thousands of planets have been discovered, but there are regions ofthe orbital parameter space that are still bare. An example is the short periodand intermediate mass/radius space known as the Neptunian desert, where planetsshould be easy to find but discoveries remain few. This suggests unusualformation and evolution processes are responsible for the planets residinghere. We present the discovery of TOI-332 b, a planet with an ultra-shortperiod of $0.78$ d that sits firmly within the desert. It orbits a K0 dwarfwith an effective temperature of $5251 \pm 71$ K. TOI-332 b has a radius of$3.20^{+0.16}_{-0.12}$ R$_{\oplus}$, smaller than that of Neptune, but anunusually large mass of $57.2 \pm 1.6$ M$_{\oplus}$. It has one of the highestdensities of any Neptune-sized planet discovered thus far at$9.6^{+1.1}_{-1.3}$ gcm$^{-3}$. A 4-layer internal structure model indicates itlikely has a negligible hydrogen-helium envelope, something only found for asmall handful of planets this massive, and so TOI-332 b presents an interestingchallenge to planetary formation theories. We find that photoevaporation cannotaccount for the mass loss required to strip this planet of the Jupiter-likeenvelope it would have been expected to accrete. We need to look towards otherscenarios, such as high-eccentricity migration, giant impacts, or gap openingin the protoplanetary disc, to try and explain this unusual discovery.

TOI-332 b: a super dense Neptune found deep within the Neptunian desert