{"id":126283,"date":"2025-08-07T12:09:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/126283\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T12:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:09:16","slug":"gigantic-insect-as-long-as-a-cat-found-in-australia-it-may-be-the-countrys-heaviest-ever-say-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/126283\/","title":{"rendered":"Gigantic insect as long as a cat found in Australia. It may be the country’s heaviest ever, say experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A newly identified stick insect (Acrophylla alta) has been found to weigh almost as much as a golf ball and could be the heaviest insect in Australia, according to scientists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was initially identified as a potential new species when Ross Coupland, a wildlife expert and co-author of\u00a0the paper describing the new species<\/a>, was sent a photo of the insect via social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prompted by this unusual photo, Coupland and co-author Professor Angus Emmott from James Cook University spent many nights searching for one in the high-altitude rainforests of the Atherton tablelands in north Queensland, Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their efforts were rewarded with the finding a large female. It was high up in the canopy and required a stick to get it down. When examined closely, the researchers became more certain that it was an undescribed species.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StickThe newly described stick insect (Acrophylla alta) is 40cm long \u2013 that’s about the length of a small cat. Credit: Professor Angus Emmott, James Cook University<\/p>\n

The female was taken to Emmott\u2019s home, where it was then kept in a cage and fed. During this time, it laid some eggs \u2013 which were key to confirming its status as a species new to science, as every species\u2019 eggs are different.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery species of stick insect has their own distinct egg style,\u201d says Emmott. \u201cThey’ve all got different surfaces and different textures and pitting, and they can be different shapes. Even the caps on them are all very unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EggsEggs of the new stick insect. Credit: Professor Angus Emmott, James Cook University
\n

The accolade for Australia\u2019s heaviest insect had been held by the giant burrowing cockroach (Macropanesthia rhinoceros), which is native to Queensland as well, and is also the world\u2019s heaviest cockroach species. It can weigh up to 35g, however this new stick insect weighed in at around 44g \u2013 beating the cockroach by almost 10g.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are longer stick insects out there [in the region], but they’re fairly light bodied,\u201d says Emmott. \u201cFrom what we know to date, this is Australia’s heaviest insect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two specimens of the species have been added to the Queensland Museum. As yet, the scientists haven\u2019t found a male, and it could be particularly difficult as stick insects are typically sexually dimorphic \u2013 males and females look very different and it can be hard to work out which belong to the same species.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Top image: stick insect (Acrophylla alta). Credit: Ross M. Coupland, co-author of the study<\/p>\n

More amazing wildlife stories from around the world<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A newly identified stick insect (Acrophylla alta) has been found to weigh almost as much as a golf…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-126283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114987411944359734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}