“Scientists have discovered a giant new species of stick bug in Australia thanks to a post on iNaturalist, a popular wildlife identification app that is accelerating ecological research,” reports The Doomslayer.
The Guardian adds:
Scientists recently announced they had found an enormous new stick insect in Australia. At 41cm in length and weighing 44g, the main question I heard was: ‘Why didn’t scientists notice something that big before now?’
The short answer is: it’s a stick. Stick insects spent over 100 million years perfecting their cosplay as leaves, branches and moss. They are diabolically difficult to spot, even with fairly acute human vision. If you disturb a stick insect, its usual response is to fall to the ground and lie still. So now you are looking for a stick lying on the ground … among all the other sticks.
Scientists were alerted to the presence of this new insect, Acrophylla alta, by a photo posted on iNaturalist, the community science sharing site.
Scientists discovered over a hundred new species in the sea east of New Zealand.
Thriving ecosystems were recently discovered six miles down in the ocean, living off of gas that is toxic to humans.
“In southern China, scientists have discovered ancient forests with animals and plants they thought were extinct in several sinkholes. The sinkholes have formed over tens of thousands of years and have only recently become visible when the land collapsed. They’re now being explored with the help of local mountaineers,” reports the BBC.
