Notes from the Lab: New Year, New Bugs

On an early December morning, while camping on the grounds of the historic Binna Burra lodge, an ecotourism lodge located just outside the Woonoongoora Lamington National Park in tropical North Queensland, PhD student James Tweed was making his way to the nearby facilities to brush his teeth when something caught his eye. 

“Initially, I just thought it was a bird dropping. But the fact it was bright white, which is not something you’d normally see on a leaf in the forest understory, made me think I should look closer,” he said. “I’m glad I did because it turned out to be this spectacular beetle.”

The beetle in question, a fuzzy-looking spectacle with comically long antennae, turned out to be not only a new species but represented an entirely undescribed genus of longhorn beetle. James and his colleagues, who confirmed that the beetle was previously unknown to science, were stunned by the find. Not only did the specimen come from a well-studied area, but it wasn’t exactly discreet. The creature was small, to be sure, but still noticeable at about the size of a fingernail. The spiky white hairs covering its body gave it the look of someone who just received a jolt of electricity, and the unmistakable antennae – longer than the beetle’s entire body – complete the image of some Dr. Seuss-like fantasy. The creature was subsequently named Excastra albopilosa – Excastra meaning “from the camp” and albopilosa for “white and hairy.”

Beetles are the most diverse animals on the planet, comprising roughly 25% of all described animal species. The longhorn beetle family alone contains over 36,000 known species, but scientists suspect there are far more awaiting discovery. It seems nearly inconceivable that, in 2025, such a remarkable species has gone unknown to science. In fact, at times, it may feel silly that we’re discovering new species at all. 

One of the most common misconceptions we see as educators is that there isn’t much left to discover. Technology is advancing at an exponential pace; after all, it took less than a single human lifetime to go from the first human-powered flight to walking on the moon. We can now effectively pull DNA straight from the air to determine which species occupy an ecosystem. Science has described over 1.2 million animal species, yet this remarkable and conspicuous insect somehow remained undetected. And with insect biodiversity disappearing at such a rapid rate, its discovery comes at a crucial time when we, as humans, still have it within our power to reverse the outcome of the “insect apocalypse.” The more we know about the world around us – especially the tiny creatures who have gone overlooked for so long – the better equipped we’ll be to help it thrive. And this beetle’s discovery goes to show that we still have so much to learn.