One, named Anchiale robusta, was hiding in plain sight: the stick insect has long been popular among enthusiasts and scientists, but analysis has only now revealed that its previous designation was a case of mistaken identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we went out into the field, and we saw a whole bunch of different individuals that looked morphologically different, and they were also living in \u2026 different habitats, that was our first hint that there was a bit more of a complicated story here,\u201d said the study\u2019s lead author, Dr Braxton Jones of the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n
Combining analysis of DNA and museum collections, citizen science records and surveys, the team discovered the insect had been misidentified for decades.<\/p>\n
Anchiale robusta females grow to a body length of 12 to 16cm; males reach 9 to 10cm in length. \u201cMostly their wings are black but some of them have a little bit of purple on the underside of their hindwing,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMales are always smaller than females \u2013 it\u2019s incredibly rare for a female to be able to still fly because they are quite heavy with \u2026 eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n
A female Anchiale robusta, during a threat display. Photograph: Paul D Brock\/Natural History Museum<\/p>\n
The team also described Anchiale mabiensis, a species that lives in the critically endangered Mabi rainforest of Queensland\u2019s Atherton tablelands. Females of the species are about 11 to 12cm long.<\/p>\n
The eggs of the species have an unusual structural \u201clid\u201d, which detaches when the insects hatch, Jones said.<\/p>\n
In describing two new species and confirming the existence of a third, the research revealed that what were once considered two species are in fact five species in habitats stretching from northern New South Wales into tropical north Queensland.<\/p>\n
That finding had important conservation implications, Jones said, given that the species are found in smaller habitat ranges than previously thought.<\/p>\n
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