Kid Walking Through the Woods Finds Strange Insect, Soon Learns It Will Put Him in the History Books

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A young man has etched his name into the history books.

Davis Marthin Damaledo was credited with discovering a new species of stick insect on Timor Island, south of Indonesia, in March 2021, according to the conservation site Mongabay.

Davis, then 14, was exploring the island with his father, Dantje Damaledo, when the pair came across a creature that looked unusual. The teenager decided to collect the large insect to study it further.

Upon returning home to Indonesia, he contacted Garda Bagus Damastra, the founder of the Indonesian Mantis and Phasmid Forum — a science collective that boasts 3,600 members — to alert him of the discovery.

Damastra compiled a team of researchers, including Frank H. Hennemann, an associate researcher at Canada’s Montreal Insectarium; Royce T. Cumming of the City University of New York; and Stephane Le Tirant, also of the Montreal Insectarium, to assist in studying the mysterious creature.

The group waited for the insect to lay and hatch eggs and then studied the growth of the offspring as they matured.

Damastra told Mongabay that Davis monitored every phase of the growth.

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