3/8/2025–|Last update: 07:47 (Mecca time)
In a remote rain forest in Australia, the habitat of snakes, spiders and deadly reptiles, scientists have discovered a new type of stick insect that they believe is the heaviest ever found in the country.
The length of this insect, which is called “ACROPHYLLA) is 42 centimeters and weighs 44 grams, which is almost the weight of a golf ball, which nominates it to be the heaviest insect in the country.
Angos Emott of James Cook University, who helped get to know the new type, said the large size of this creature may be an evolutionary response to its cold and wet environment.
Emott stressed that “it is likely that the mass of its bodies helps it to stay in cold conditions, and for this reason it has evolved into this large insect over millions of years,” adding that “what we know so far is this is the heaviest insect in Australia.”
Despite her ability to hide, Emott and his team were able to find a large female from these insects at an altitude of more than 900 meters in the “Hebibami” Mountain in the World Heritage area of wet tropical areas.
The new stick insect was discovered in the forests of the mountainous tropical area in the far north of Queensland, in northeastern Australia. Two females were later found, and scientists have not yet been able to find a male.
Emott said: “She lives in the high forests, at the top of the tree peaks, and unless a bird or a hurricane or a storm happens, so we cannot find it there at the top of the tree peaks, in the world of invertebrates there is a lot that we do not know yet and much of what has not yet been described.”
The distinctive eggs of the bacilli insect also helped scientists define them as a new type. Emott said: “We looked at her eggs after she laid some of it, and we were completely sure that it is a new type.” He pointed out that each type of stick insect has a distinctive egg pattern.
This discovery highlights the unique biological diversity in the region, as well as scientists’ interest in the characteristics of this giant insect.
Emott added that “more research is needed to reveal more about the giant stick insect, including its role within the ecosystem, and it will be very important to know how much it provided and where exactly is, because that will help us to preserve it,” Emott added.