Stecco insects and the new species. The order of the Fasmoidi includes all the species commonly known as “sticker insect”. In Italy we register the presence of Bacillus Rossiuspresent throughout the territory, and of Gallic clonopsisspecies that is found only on the islands. Distributed all over the world with the exception of Antarctica, Stecco insects focus a lot in Australia, where more than 100 different species are counted.
A recent study has baptized a new species, theHigh ACOPHYLLA. Published on Zootoxathe research describes these insects stacked as typically hidden among the fronds of the trees in the most remote places on the continent and with the greatest weight of all the insects present in Australia.
A photo from social media. High ACOPHYLLA It was discovered almost by chance: some time ago, Ross Coupland, one of the two authors of the study, received the photo of a large sticker insect via social media. Comparing himself with his colleague of the James Cook University Angus Emmott, the first author of the study, Coupland concluded that it was a new species:
The two were traveling to the area where the Atherton plateau, a volcanic plateau in Queensland which contains the last “pieces” of the rainforest that once covered it (and which has been cut to make room for crops and pastures) were identified.
It is precisely in one of these rain forest stains that Emmott and Coupland found the specimen that had been reported to them (or in any case one of the same species). Hidden between the fronds of the trees and very high, it was recovered with a long stick by the two researchers. The extreme and difficult habitted has probably meant that nobody had identified the new species so far.
The heaviest. The particular environmental conditions in which he lives High ACOPHYLLA – a fresh and very humid area – they also contributed, according to the authors of the study, to its disproportionate growth. Because we are not only talking about a new stacked insect, but about the heaviest in Australia:
The caught specimen weighs 44 grams and cannot be excluded that the species can exceed the recorded number. The record extends to all the insects of the continent: High ACOPHYLLA He also exceeded the previous “heaviest insect in Australia”, that is, the Rhineteen Blatte, which stops at 35 grams.
The weight of this stacked insect, therefore, could be the secret of its success in such a cold environment.
However, it is worth reporting that High ACOPHYLLA It is the heaviest in Australia (and among the heaviest in the world), but it is a length in the norm:
Usually, record -breaking insects are long but relatively light (the longest belongs to the genre Phryganistria and exceeds 60 cm). The new species overtakes this rule.