Meet the new species of giant stick insect that weighs about the same as a golf ball
Oceania
GolfFacebookTweetLink
Follow
In a remote rainforest in Australia, home to deadly snakes, spiders and creepy-crawlies, scientists have discovered a new species of stick insect they believe is the heaviest ever found in the country.
The new species weighs 44 grams (1.55 oz), about the same as a golf ball, and is 40 cm (15.75 inches) long.
James Cook University's Angus Emmott, who helped identify the new Acrophylla alta species, said the creature's large size could be an evolutionary response to its cool, wet habitat.
'Their body mass likely helps them survive the colder conditions, and that's why they've developed into this large insect over millions of years,' he was quoted as saying in a media release.
'From what we know to date, this is Australia's heaviest insect.'
The new stick insect was discovered in the canopies of the mountainous Wet Tropics region of Far North Queensland, in Australia's northeast.
The remote habitat was probably also why it had remained undiscovered for so long, Emmott said.
'It's restricted to a small area of high-altitude rainforest, and it lives high in the canopy. So, unless you get a cyclone or a bird bringing one down, very few people get to see them,' he said.
The stick insect's distinctive eggs also helped scientists identify it as a new species.
'Every species of stick insect has their own distinct egg style,' Emmott said.
'They'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.'
Two specimens have been added to the Queensland Museum's collection to aid future research.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
WebMD
2 hours ago
- WebMD
Back Pain Relief From This Therapy Can Last for Years
back pain treatments that offer lasting relief, or any relief. That's why a surprising new study, published Wednesday, is drawing public and clinical attention, showing that adults with disabling low-back pain who completed just eight sessions of a novel therapy saw sustained improvements in their pain and activity levels – even after three years. The treatment, called cognitive functional therapy (CFT), blends physical therapy with a psychology-based approach. CFT "teaches patients how to manage their own symptoms, what their pain experience means, and how they can move forward without injuring themselves," said Chad E. Cook, PT, PhD, a pain researcher at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. (Cook was not involved in the study.) Teaching people to self-manage pain is the cornerstone of the approach, Cook said. It's "why the authors saw improvements at three years – which is very uncommon." The study included 312 adults in Australia with an average pain level of 4 or more on a 10-point scale – enough to interfere with daily living and work activities. Of those who completed the CFT (which included seven 30- to 60-minute sessions over 12 weeks, plus an eighth "booster" session at 26 weeks), more than 40% saw improvement in their activity level – and maintained that improvement after three years, compared to 17% in a comparison group who received usual care. Pain scores dropped by an average of 2 points in the CFT group, compared with less than 1 point in the usual care group, and that was also sustained after three years. The average age of people in the study was 48, but benefits were seen among a wide range of ages, said study author Mark Hancock, PhD. Here are three things to know about CFT for low-back pain, a condition that affects more than 1 in 4 U.S. adults. CFT helped the people that nothing else worked for. Most people in the study did not expect the treatment to work, likely because other treatments they'd tried had failed. "The poor outcomes of mainstream approaches are one of the reasons the authors created CFT," Cook said. "Before giving up, it is worth speaking with a CFT clinician to determine if the approach is right for you." People with the most severe low-back pain have the most to gain: They're the ones who tend to reap the greatest benefit from CFT, the research showed. CFT is low risk and can be done anywhere. There's no clear go-to therapy for low-back pain, and many options – like surgery or opioids – carry high risks. Research on most treatments shows mixed results, and scientists haven't yet figured out how to tailor them to individual patients. But anyone can do CFT, anywhere. Many of the people in the study did their sessions via virtual appointments, although Hancock recommends doing the first session in person. It's movement and psychotherapy combined. A course of CFT is highly personalized, but it might include: Tailoring therapy based on what's causing your pain – an old back injury or past surgery, for example – and your experiences from treatments that didn't work Tracking exactly when and where pain shows up – like if it worsens while sitting, climbing stairs, or after certain movements Challenging unhelpful beliefs about pain, such as "I will never be able to work again" or "my posture is wrong" Practicing specific movements and psychological strategies with the therapist – like learning to move despite discomfort, training your body not to respond by tensing up (known as muscle guarding), and focusing instead on relaxing the muscles (which can ease pain) Relearning everyday movements that matter to you – such as standing or sitting without pain, walking the dog, or getting back on the bike – along with strength training and lifestyle habits that support recovery Developing helpful internal monologues, like "I became mindful to my response to pain" or "I don't fear my pain anymore" How Do You Get Started with CFT? Because it's an emerging therapy, you may not readily find a CFT-trained physical therapist. If you can't find one close to you, Hancock suggested searching for a physical therapist who describes themselves as "more of a coach, helping you to understand your back pain and giving you skills and confidence to return to activity." In the meantime, Hancock, a professor of physiotherapy and back pain researcher at Australia's Macquarie University in Sydney, offers these tips: Try to keep moving during pain, rather than resting or avoiding activity. Relax and try to move normally. View your pain as a warning sign, but not as message that damage is happening. If you gradually do more, the pain usually is reduced.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Great Barrier Reef devastated by extensive coral bleaching
Researchers warn that Australia's Great Barrier Reef may be reaching a 'tipping point' where coral cannot recover fast enough between major catastrophic events. This comes as reports revealed the largest decline in coral cover in two of its three regions over the last year following a record-breaking bleaching of its corals.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Earth's 'oldest' impact crater is much younger than previously thought, new study finds
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Ever been late because you misread a clock? Sometimes, the "clocks" geologists use to date events can also be misread. Unravelling Earth's 4.5-billion-year history with rocks is tricky business. Case in point: the discovery of an ancient meteorite impact crater was recently reported in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia. The original study, by a different group, made headlines with the claim the crater formed 3.5 billion years ago. If true, it would be Earth's oldest by far. As it turns out, we'd also been investigating the same site. Our results are published in Science Advances today. While we agree that this is the site of an ancient meteorite impact, we have reached different conclusions about its age, size and significance. Let's consider the claims made about this fascinating crater. One impact crater, two versions of events Planetary scientists search for ancient impacts to learn about Earth's early formation. So far, nobody has found an impact crater older than the 2.23-billion-year-old Yarrabubba structure, also in Australia. (Some of the authors from both 2025 Pilbara studies were coauthors on the 2020 Yarrabubba study.) The new contender is located in an area called North Pole Dome. Despite the name, this isn't where Santa lives. It's an arid, hot, ochre-stained landscape. The first report on the new crater claimed it formed 3.5 billion years ago, and was more than 100 kilometers in diameter. It was proposed that such a large impact might have played a role in forming continental crust in the Pilbara. More speculatively, the researchers also suggested it may have influenced early life. Our study concludes the impact actually happened much later, sometime after 2.7 billion years ago. This is at least 800 million years younger than the earlier estimate (and we think it's probably even younger; more on that in a moment). We also determined the crater was much smaller – about 16km in diameter. In our view, this impact was too young and too small to have influenced continent formation or early life. So how could two studies arrive at such different findings? Subtle clues of an impact The originally circular crater is deeply eroded, leaving only subtle clues on the landscape. However, among the rust-colored basalts are unique telltale signs of meteorite impact: shatter cones. Shatter cones are distinctive fossilized imprints of shock waves that have passed through rocks. Their unique conical shapes form under brief but immense pressure where a meteorite strikes Earth. Both studies found shatter cones, and agree the site is an ancient impact. This new crater also needed a name. We consulted the local Aboriginal people, the Nyamal, who shared the traditional name for this place and its people: Miralga. The "Miralga impact structure" name recognizes this heritage. Determining the timing of the impact The impact age was estimated by field observations, as neither study found material likely to yield an impact age by radiometric dating – a method that uses measurements of radioactive isotopes. Both studies applied a geological principle called the law of superposition. This states that rock layers get deposited one on top of another over time, so rocks on top are younger than those below. The first group found shatter cones within and below a sedimentary layer known to have been deposited 3.47 billion years ago, but no shatter cones in younger rocks above this layer. This meant the impact occurred during deposition of the sedimentary layer. Their observation seemed to be a "smoking gun" for an impact 3.47 billion years ago. As it turns out, there was more to the story. Our investigation found shatter cones in the same 3.47 billion-year-old rocks, but also in younger overlying rocks, including lavas known to have erupted 2.77 billion years ago. The impact had to occur after the formation of the youngest rocks that contained shatter cones, meaning sometime after the 2.77-billion-year-old lavas. At the moment, we don't know precisely how young the crater is. We can only constrain the impact to have occurred between 2.7 billion and 400 million years ago. We're working on dating the impact by isotopic methods, but these results aren't yet in. Smaller than originally thought We made the first map showing where shatter cones are found. There are many hundreds over an area 6km across. From this map and their orientations, we calculate the original crater was about 16km in diameter. A 16km crater is a far cry from the original estimate of more than 100km. It's too small to have influenced the formation of continents or life. By the time of the impact, the Pilbara was already quite old. A new connection to Mars Science is a self-policing sport. Claims of discovery are based on data available at the time, but they often require modification based on new data or observations. While it's not the world's oldest, the Miralga impact is scientifically unique, as craters formed in basalt are rare. Most basalts there formed 3.47 billion years ago, making them the oldest shocked target rocks known. Prior to impact, these ancient basalts had been chemically altered by seawater. Sedimentary rocks nearby also contain the earliest well-established fossils on Earth. Such rocks likely covered much of early Earth and Mars. This makes the Miralga impact structure a playground for planetary scientists studying the cratered surface (and maybe early life) of Mars. It's an easily accessible proving ground for Mars exploration instruments and imagery, right here on Earth. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Solve the daily Crossword
