- Feb 5, 2002
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In March 2021, Davis Marthin Damaledo set out on foot accompanied by his father, Dantje, to pursue his childhood fascination with the natural world around his home in eastern Indonesia. As the father and son made progress through the countryside near Oemasi village, in the west of Timor Island, 14-year-old Davis was grateful to have a companion.
“The location was quite far away,” Davis, now aged 17, told Mongabay Indonesia. “If I was by myself, I’d have just searched near home.”
As the pair walked further into the interior, Davis came across a creature that looked unusual to him.
Davis decided to gently collect the unknown insect to make further inquiries. On returning home, he contacted Garda Bagus Damastra, founder of the Indonesian Mantis and Phasmid Forum (IMPF), a science collective with around 3,600 members.
Garda’s own story mirrors that of Davis: In 2016, he found a leaf insect that looked similar to another known species, except for unusual patches of purple. A 2020 paper would go on to describe the leaf insect as a species new-to-science, and named it in honor of its discoverer: Phyllium gardabagusi.
Now with Davis reaching out to him, armed with live insect specimens as well as eggs, Garda tapped his research and entomology contacts abroad: Hennemann, Royce T. Cumming, and Stéphane Le Tirant.
The group then went to work, waiting for the eggs to hatch and observing over time the development of the insects until maturity.
Continued below.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
“The location was quite far away,” Davis, now aged 17, told Mongabay Indonesia. “If I was by myself, I’d have just searched near home.”
As the pair walked further into the interior, Davis came across a creature that looked unusual to him.
Davis decided to gently collect the unknown insect to make further inquiries. On returning home, he contacted Garda Bagus Damastra, founder of the Indonesian Mantis and Phasmid Forum (IMPF), a science collective with around 3,600 members.
Garda’s own story mirrors that of Davis: In 2016, he found a leaf insect that looked similar to another known species, except for unusual patches of purple. A 2020 paper would go on to describe the leaf insect as a species new-to-science, and named it in honor of its discoverer: Phyllium gardabagusi.
Now with Davis reaching out to him, armed with live insect specimens as well as eggs, Garda tapped his research and entomology contacts abroad: Hennemann, Royce T. Cumming, and Stéphane Le Tirant.
The group then went to work, waiting for the eggs to hatch and observing over time the development of the insects until maturity.
Continued below.
Child Naturalist Discovers a Giant New Stick Insect Then Co-Authors the Paper and Names the Bug
Davis said he and the scientists chose the name Nesiophasma sobesonbaii in honor of Sobe Sonbaii III, a native monarch who fought the Dutch.
www.goodnewsnetwork.org
