Meet the new neighbours
Both new species belong to the same genus, Anchiale. Both have wings, and both grow well over 10 centimetres long.
Anchiale robusta is the larger of the two. It reaches around 16 centimetres and has large, mottled wings. It lives in coastal rainforest from Tully to north of Cooktown, a range that takes in the lowland rainforest of the Daintree. Anchiale mabiensis is slimmer and a little smaller, at around 11.5 centimetres. So far it's only been seen in one place: the Mabi Forest on the Atherton Tablelands.
Its eggs are remarkable. Scientists found they have a series of rings and a tiny lid, unlike any other stick insect egg they've seen. Stick insect eggs are so distinctive that a species can be identified from the egg alone.
A warning from the Tablelands
Here's the part that matters most. Much of the original Mabi Forest was cleared for agriculture. What remains is now listed as a threatened ecological community under national environmental law.
So one of these newly named species lives in a forest that's already been reduced to fragments. We've only just learned it exists, and its home is already hanging on.
Wet Tropics Management Authority says our understanding of invertebrates lags well behind other wildlife. Researchers often tell him, "We don't know enough to make some decisions sometimes."
It's a sobering thought. How many other species in the Daintree lowlands are still waiting for a name? And how many could be lost if their rainforest disappeared before anyone noticed?
Why protection can't wait for discovery
The Daintree is one of the oldest continuously existing rainforests on Earth, home to many species found nowhere else. Yet parts of the Daintree lowlands are still privately owned freehold blocks, and on many of them, building a house remains a permitted use.
Each time a block is cleared, the rainforest becomes more fragmented. Wildlife loses room to move, feed and breed. For small, overlooked creatures with limited ranges, that loss can be permanent.
That's why supporters like you are buying these blocks back, one at a time. Together, you've helped protect 36 rainforest properties so far. Through the Pathway to Protection, secured properties can progress toward transfer into Daintree National Park, owned by the Eastern Kuku Yalanji People.
When you protect a Daintree rainforest property, you're not only protecting the species we know. You're protecting the ones we haven't met yet.
Help keep the Daintree whole
Every square metre you protect keeps habitat connected for the Southern Cassowary, Bennett's Tree-kangaroo and countless smaller lives that science is only beginning to understand.