In the high-altitude Australian rainforest, researchers identified a new species dubbed Acrophylla alta — and it may be the country's heaviest insect.

Australia is known for having freakishly large bugs — including a tarantula so big it is known as the “bird-eating spider” — but a newly discovered species of stick insect may be one of the creepiest crawlers to be found on the continent.

The creature, dubbed Acrophylla alta , measures more than 15 inches in length and weighs about the same as a golf ball, making it Australia’s heaviest known insect. It was found in the rainforest of northern Queensland, a remote, high-altitude area that kept the insect hidden for all these years.

James Cook University researcher Angus Emmott and wildlife expert Ross Coupland detailed the discovery in

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