Australia is famous for hosting the weirdest creatures we’ve ever seen. Sometimes, these weird creatures also come extra-large—like the newly discovered stick insect that researchers believe may be the heaviest of all Aussie insects.
The insect, named Acrohylla alta, is about 15 inches (40 centimeters) long—about the height of a bowling pin—and weighs around 0.1 pounds (44 grams), slightly lighter than the heaviest golf ball. In a recent Zootaxa paper, wildlife researchers Angus Emmott and Ross Coupland describe in stunning detail the new insect, which they found deep within the rainforests of the Atherton Tablelands, an elevated plateau in southeastern Australia that’s about 3,000 feet (900 meters) high.
A strange photograph of an unknown species sent to the pair prompted the researchers’ trip to the Atherton Tablelands. Their outings typically transpired at night, when stick insects tend to be more active compared to the day, when they’re at risk of predation from birds. After scouring the forests for hours on end with no luck, they finally managed to spot a lanky creature that matched the image in the mysterious photograph.
Quietly, the researchers watched as the insect—which turned out to be female—laid eggs that looked nothing like anything they’d ever seen before. It was at this point that they became certain they were looking at an entirely new species of stick insect, Emmott recalled to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
So far, scientists have only observed two female Acrohylla alta specimens, one from the researchers’ outing and another found in a garden belonging to Emmott’s friend. Based on these two discoveries, the researchers surmise that these supersized insects are exceptionally elusive, living in the highest canopies of high-altitude forests. “Unless a bird knocks one down or you get a cyclone or a storm that knocks one down, we just can’t find them up there in the canopy,” Emmott said.
As for how they got so big, Emmott believes it may be on account of them living in a cool, wet environment. A larger body mass may have helped them to survive colder temperatures, he explained in a university statement.
The new discovery illustrates how much we still don’t know about these ancient rainforests, Peter Valentine, an environmental scientist at James Cook University who was not involved in the new work, told ABC. It’s always exciting news when we discover new species, but at the same time it raises concerns about how well we’re preserving rainforests, Valentine added.
Emmott shares this sentiment.
“The scary thing is we may be losing species before we even know they exist,” he said. “In the world of invertebrates, there is so much that we don’t know yet and so many that are yet to be described.”
In the meantime, Emmott says he’d like to find a male individual from the species, which would surely reveal even more about these extra-large critters.
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