Police have put out an amber alert for a missing five-year-old in south Taranaki.

He was last seen at 11pm on Thursday night and was discovered missing at 3.30am Friday morning when his parent got up early for work.

He lives at a property on Mania Road in the town of Kaponga.

He is described by police as a non-verbal, severally autistic, with short dark hair and was last seen wearing light coloured pyjamas with dinosaurs on them.

Police said he had discarded his pants.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.