this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2025
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Science Memes

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987
Stick Insect (aussie.zone)
submitted 3 days ago by Zagorath@aussie.zone to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
57 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Text TranscriptionA series of Tweets, each a reply to the previous.

  1. ABC News @ABC: Scientists have discovered a giant new species of stick insect in Australia, which is over 15 inches long and researchers say may be the heaviest insect in the country. [With a picture of a brown stick insect among some green leaves.]
  2. mary @theoceanblooms: can I ask a question: how does something like this go undiscovered until now
  3. soul nate @MNateShyamalan: Entomologist here πŸ™‹β€β™‚οΈπŸ€“πŸœ Great question! It may seem surprising that the scientific community could miss an entire bug species after all this time, especially when it's THIS big. The answer might surprise you more πŸ‘€ Let's dive in πŸ‘‡πŸ§΅ (1/?)
  4. soul nate @MNateShyamalan: he look like stick (2/2)
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[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

15 inches?! That's a BRANCH insect

[–] svcg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 58 points 3 days ago (1 children)

He long

He not that thicc

And most importantly

He look like sticc

[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

With your permission I'm going to cook up some beats and use this verse as a hook.

[–] svcg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago

Go for it.

I hereby waive all copyright and related or neighboring rights together with all associated claims and causes of action with respect to this work to the extent possible under the law.

[–] Grostleton@lemmy.dbzer0.com 107 points 3 days ago (2 children)

[–] foofiepie@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Why do they wiggle tho

[–] 0ops@piefed.zip 12 points 3 days ago

It's like he's trying to juke me out. I bet he breaks ankles

[–] azi@mander.xyz 7 points 3 days ago

because sticks wiggle in the wind. it's all part of their masterful ploy

[–] _AutumnMoon_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 days ago

maybe its windy?

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[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 107 points 3 days ago (2 children)

How could an animal that has perfected evade our detection?

Truly the noodlest of noodle scratchers.

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 13 points 3 days ago (3 children)

But humans love to pick up sticks. How has nobody picked this guy up by accident?

[–] Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

: gathering kindling:

: grab a good looking stick:

: it suddenly thrashes about and bites you:

: drop it whilst shitting pants:

: tell no one:

[–] ButteryMonkey@piefed.social 18 points 3 days ago

They probably have.

But if you came across a random bug, especially a big one like that, wouldn’t you assume other people already knew about it? I would.

I mean sure you might take a pic and send it to a few people, but they would probably also assume it’s known.

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

I wish there was some kind of "Unitendified species discovered! +5 achievement points" thing in real life. As it is, unless the correct people pick it up, odds are nobody would know or care if it's a known species.

Do you take the time to carefully identify and classify every bug you come across? I don't have the skills for it, nor frankly the enthusiasm to spend time acquiring and applying them, and I'm confident that applies to most people.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

"what is collective knowledge"

[–] Liz@midwest.social 63 points 3 days ago (3 children)

The answer is that we don't fund science at the rate that we should, especially not bug science. Want discoveries? Gotta pay someone to actually do the work.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 2 days ago

Sorry, the best we can do is fascism, open corruption, and rampant anti-intellectualism.

[–] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 23 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Looking for weird sticks doesn't make anyone rich though. Think of the economy for once.

[–] mr_satan@lemmy.zip 13 points 3 days ago

Won't anyone think of the shareholder value!

[–] xx3rawr@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Think of the stockholders!

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And what's with the stickholders?

[–] Sidhean@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago

They're entomologists!

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You mean that scientists don't just hang out outside during their free time and go looking for new species? That's not how it works?

[–] Eq0@literature.cafe 4 points 2 days ago

That’s definitely how the government would like us to work. But we would like piles on cash in the form of a living wage, thanks

[–] Fizz@lemmy.nz 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Dude types like chatgpt

[–] Kalothar@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 days ago

Or ChatGPT is modeled after this kind of excited teacher behavior as a base for the way it interacts with users

[–] Dragonstaff@leminal.space 34 points 3 days ago

Bug if true

[–] InvalidName2@lemmy.zip 34 points 3 days ago (4 children)

how does something like this go undiscovered until now

I don't know the specifics of this particular insect's origin story, but for a surprising number of insects & arthropods, the answer can be summarized as "nobody bothered to look closely enough".

Sometimes that's a literal fact -- the critter is so well disguised, lives in a remote or hard to reach location, or is so uncommon that nobody's ever noticed it before. But with surprising frequency, it's a case where previously undiscovered species have been right under our noses (or feet or rocks in our suburban yards) this whole time and we simply did not realize it. It's not that we don't notice them, just that nobody's ever taken the time to really study them enough to spot the differences from one closely related species to the next so we simply assumed they're all the same.

For example, there are species of beetles that about the only reliable way to tell them apart is to count the hairs on their butt when they are larvae. As adults, they are nearly indistinguishable. Now imagine that nobody ever took the time to study larval butt hair.I guess what I'm saying is, we need more funding for bug butt hair and general bug butt hair awareness, because it's a thing.

[–] zerofk@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago

Without going into what β€œspecies” means exactly - because I know that’s complicated - can you explain why those beetles are different species despite being nearly identical as adults? Is it just that they cannot interbreed?

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[–] ech@lemmy.ca 40 points 3 days ago (2 children)

People put far too much faith the idea that we as a society know most, or even all there is to know. Humanity has advanced far and increasingly faster in recent years, but we still know basically nothing in terms of the grand scale of things to discover and know.

Even now, our methods of discovering things like new species are far less advanced than people like this probably imagine - it basically boils down to time, persistence, and luck.

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 days ago

That, and every grad student and upwards worst nightmare: funding

[–] luciferofastora@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

We don't even know how much there is to know or if such a limit can exist at all

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago (2 children)

They live high up in the tree canopy. Not like people missed a monster bug walking down the trail.

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[–] moakley@lemmy.world 31 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Last time this meme came up I had the perfectly worded Disco Elysium quote ready, but I've forgotten it. So just pretend I said it right now.

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wow. That was perfect. I'm a better man for the timing of that quote

[–] sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago

I almost became a better man for it but then I found drugs

[–] Klear@quokk.au 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I keep hearing about the game but your quote finally convinced me to find the time and play through it myself.

[–] moakley@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

You won't regret it! The game really is a singular experience.

[–] f314@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

I am a relatively median lifeform, while you are extreme, all-engulfing madness. A volatile simian nervous system, ominously new to the planet.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

The math checks out.

[–] S_H_K@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

New TV game Insect Cake or the real deal?

[–] Wilco@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 days ago

We pay millions out to researchers just to look at sticks, leaves, and rocks to determine if they are bugs or not. Wait, that's wrong ...

[–] DrDystopia@lemy.lol 13 points 3 days ago

That's no excuse, if we all grab a random stick to check if it's an undiscovered species of stick insects...

How's that concealment trick of yours working now Mr. Dickinsect? On the random luck scale we are equals!

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If that was found in Australia, it's

  • Poisonous
  • Venomous
  • Chlamydic
  • aggressive and bitey
  • invasive

One or more of the above. No exceptions.

[–] binarytobis@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I’d be terrible at discovering new species because I would assume anything I found was already discovered and exhaust myself looking for it in databases.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 4 points 2 days ago

That's probably a big part of why this took so long to be described by science.

[–] merdaverse@lemmy.zip 7 points 3 days ago

Is that... the Insulindian Phasmid?

[–] Bonus@mander.xyz 4 points 3 days ago

I miss that guy, must be on threads

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