Scientists discover a new giant insect in Australia: “It lives very high in the treetops”

From red kangaroos bounding across the Outback to stealthy saltwater crocs and venomous snakes hiding in the grass, Australia’s wild side is well known. But there’s a new arrival on that list and it might make you feel a little uneasy.

Australia’s heaviest insect discovered

Researchers in Queensland have identified a massive new species of winged stick insect that weighs just under a golf ball — about 1.6 ounces — making it the heaviest insect ever found in Australia.

The creature, named Acrophylla alta, stretches an astonishing 16 inches from head to tail and lives high in the rainforest canopy of the Atherton Tablelands in northern Queensland. Its remote treetop home may be the key to both its impressive size and the fact that no one had spotted it until now.

How scientists made the discovery

The breakthrough began with a social media post. According to James Cook University professor Angus Emmott, co-lead author of the study, “Ross Coupland received a photo of an insect and immediately thought it might be something new.”

That hunch led to several nights of searching the rainforest. Eventually, Emmott and Coupland spotted a large female so high up that “they had to use a long stick to bring it down.”

The two placed the insect in a cage, fed it, and collected its eggs to study the new species.

The reason the insect went unnoticed

Emmott says the insect went unnoticed until now because of its habitat. “It lives very high in the treetops. So, unless a cyclone or a bird brings one down, very few people can see it,” he said in a statement.

Its environment may also explain its remarkable size. As Emmott put it, “Body mass obviously helps it to survive the cold conditions of the cool, wet environment where it lives.”

Finding a male the next challenge

The next challenge is finding a male — something that’s proving difficult. Male stick insects tend to be much smaller and so visually different from females that in other cases, “pairs have been misinterpreted as different species.”

Nicole Gunter, an entomologist at the Queensland Museum, said the discovery “filled a gap in our knowledge of Australia’s biodiversity.” She added, “Australia is home to an enormous biodiversity that has not yet been classified and given a scientific name.”

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