Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years

why don't they just leave it alone?

It's like they've been waiting for us to come and rescue them in that bush.
Nice thread.
I'd never heard of these insects or Ball Island, niceone.

reply to post by TruthIncarnate


Gravity is not reduced underwater. The only thing that is different is the medium (water vs air) and the amount of support those two different mediums offer.
also, many of these exoskeleton creatures do not live solely in water and do spend time on land.

See what happens when humans stay the hell out of certain areas for extended periods of time.

LIFE!

That is one huge ass ant.

Be nice if they could be brought back from extinction.

While I'm all for preventing a species from going extinct, the concept of wiping out the population of a species on a particular island to make way for another is baffling to me.

That said, I'm all for breeding some in captivity and passing them out to zoos and museums all around the world. I would love to see such a cool creature in person.

As for the wild population, they are obviously are surviving where they are. I say let them be.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


GREAT bug,, wonderful story, excellent article, good vid. What more can anyone ask?

S&F&

The DailyMail picked up this story, it has a few more pictures of the island;

How did it get THERE? Tree lobster thought to be extinct for 80 years found alive clinging 500ft up on remote Pacific rock taller than Empire State Building
(Dailymail.co.uk)

I also found an interesting corresponding article on why insects and some animals grow so large when isolated on an island;

What is Island Gigantism?
(Wisegeek.com)

Island gigantism is a biological phenomenon where animals that live on isolated islands tend to grow larger because of a lack of predators and competition which would otherwise be present on the mainland. Rather than being caused by a novel selection pressure, as is thought to be the case with the complementary phenomenon of island dwarfism, island gigantism is caused by the removal of constraints. The result are organisms that swell to ponderous sizes. Island gigantism is an apparent counterexample to Bergmann's rule, a generality that states that animals that live near the equator tend to be smaller. Some islands with species that display island gigantism are located near the equator, but still have unusually large animals.

[...]

The Lord Howe Island stick insect is another interesting example of island gigantism. This half-foot-long stick insect, called a "walking sausage" due to its appearance, was thought to have been extinct in the 1930s, only to be rediscovered at Ball’s Pyramid, the world's tallest and most isolated sea stack between New Zealand and Australia. A population of 20-30 individuals was found under a single Melaleuca shrub. Some of the population was taken into captivity and bred, now numbering 50 individuals and thousands of eggs. The researchers hope to reintroduce the insects to nearby Howe Island after a campaign to eliminate invasive rats on the island is completed.

Homo floresiensis, when isolated on their island habitat, shrank in stature due to insular dwarfism, quite the opposite reaction as opposed to Island Gigantism of the Lord Howe Island stick insects above.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Gosh! They've found my secret lair!!!

To the mini-sub, quick!

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


The island looks like something out of a movie.
wow.
And those bugs freak me out.
I hate big bugs.

btw. Is the rock hollow? Do the sharks have lasers on their heads?

an "unusual insect behavior" — Goodall says Patrick "showed me photos of how they sleep at night, in pairs, the male with three of his legs protectively over the female beside him."

The link leads to a PDF report on the "LHISI" (Lord Howe Island Stick Insect), that has some more info on the critters (you might say TMI);

Pair bonding

‘Pair bonding’ is unusual in insects and not clearly defined, but there are reports that adult males and females of the Thorned Devil (Eurycantha horrida) from New Guinea, probably the LHISIs’ closest living relative, form bonds if kept together for a period. The FAQ website www.small-life.co.uk sites the example of “when a pair of adult New Guinea stick insects that have been particularly close, living together as adults for a year, and then one dies [sic]. In these situations, when one dies (of old age) the surviving stick insect not only stays with the other stick insect as it dies, gently touching it, but remains with the corpse for a few days afterwards. Sometimes the survivor refuses to eat or drink and dies as well. This behaviour is not seen in New Guinea stick insects that are not in close bonds.”

Not only do they 'spoon' with their mates, but this - "when one dies (of old age) the surviving stick insect not only stays with the other stick insect as it dies, gently touching it, but remains with the corpse for a few days afterwards. Sometimes the survivor refuses to eat or drink and dies as well."

Definitely not your usual insect behavior!

I wonder why bugs did not become intelligent.

Maybe some bug somewhere else did and is flying around in bug spaceships.

Originally posted by jonnywhite
I wonder why bugs did not become intelligent.

Maybe some bug somewhere else did and is flying around in bug spaceships.

Like the catapiller maybe?

Biotech at its best i think

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Very cool story!

S&F

A species almost wiped off by man,well,rats.......The least man could do is fix the mistake...


I do say,that Rock poking out of the sea,looks foreboding..Something out of a great novel.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


fascinating ! S&Flagged

OH MY GOD! I'll have nightmares now!!!!!!!! Why did I look????

Nothing godlike, Egyptian, or something about that picture that strikes you?

They were there the same way they were on Lord Howe, there's no mystery there.

Originally posted by paulvh

edit on 3-3-2012 by paulvh because: Learning to embed

Quote for ugliness,and beauty all in one.........


I keep thinking bedbugs,or roaches this size..............

What's ugly? Can you zoom in on something specific?