Two new stick insect species emerge from Queensland forests

Some look to the stars in the hope of finding alien life forms, but others hunt for outlandish creatures living much closer to home.

For entomologist Braxton Jones, searching for insect life was far more exciting than waiting for extra-terrestrials to show up.

"In movies, they try to design all these crazy aliens, but all you have to do is just look at the insect world because they already exist," he said.

The University of Sydney researcher has discovered two new stick insect species, Anchiale robusta and Anchiale mabiensis, in Far North Queensland.

Anchiale robusta, which has large, mottled wings and grows to a length of about 160 millimetres, was found to live in coastal rainforest from Tully to north of Cooktown.

Anchiale mabiensis has only been observed in the Mabi Forest on the Atherton Tablelands and is slightly smaller and more slender, growing to about 115mm.

Dr Jones's findings have been published in the scientific journal Austral Entomology.

Spotting a new species

Dr Jones said the first indication of a potential new species was how it looked.

"So the colour of the wings, or the shape of the wings, or the length of their wings, and that's very consistent within that species, but it's very different between species," he said.

Dr Jones said he was always keen to collect living females so that the eggs could be examined.

"I don't know any other organism where this applies, but you can take the egg alone, and from the egg you can identify the species," he said.

Dr Jones said Anchiale mabiensis had particularly unusual eggs, featuring a series of rings and a lid.

He said the eggs of other species were sometimes glued, buried, or featured a silk-like substance, but nothing like the new discovery.

"It's the only stick insect or the only egg that we've been able to find that has these rings on it," he said.

An under-discovered field

Dr Jones said the identification of new species was important for conservation efforts, particularly for creatures only found in small areas.

Terry Carmichael from the Wet Tropics Management Authority said the biodiversity of the region was well known and growing.

But he said the understanding of different invertebrate species was lagging behind other groups of animal life.

"It's the number one thing we hear from researchers — we don't know enough to make some decisions sometimes" Mr Carmichael said.

He said large parts of the original Mabi Forest, a home to Anchiale mabiensis, had been cleared for agriculture.

"Mabi rainforest itself is a threatened ecological community under the Commonwealth legislation for protecting the environment," Mr Carmichael said.

"Now we have a very rare stick insect living in that Mabi Forest, it just makes it more and more special."

Dr Jones said his love for finding stick insects had never wavered and encouraged other would-be entomologists to follow his lead.

"If you have a passion for insects, pursue it, because you never grow up. You're just a kid forever,"

he said.

"You're just having so much fun going through the one life that you have, just looking at how amazing the outside world is."