Lord Howe Island stick insect
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The Lord Howe Island stick insect was thought to be extinct by 1930, only to be rediscovered in 2001, this phenomenon is also known as the "Lazarus effect." It has been called "the rarest insect in the world", as the rediscovered population consisted of less than 20 individuals. Adults can measure up to 15cm in length and weigh 25 grams, and for their size are sometimes called land lobsters. They were once common on Lord Howe Island, but became extinct there soon after Black rats were introduced to the island in 1918 when the supply ship Makambo ran aground.
At this time the only natural habitat is located at Ball's Pyramid, 23 kilometers south-east of Lord Howe Island. Ball’s Pyramid is the world’s tallest and most isolated rocky sea-stack. The rediscovered population was found living under a single melaleuca shrub in 2001. A team of climbers in the 1960s had brought back dead specimens but expeditions to find live insects had been unsuccessful until 2001.
In 2003 a research team from New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service returned to Ball's Pyramid and collected two breeding pairs, one pair went to a private breeder in Sydney and the other to Melbourne Zoo. They have since been successfully bred in captivity, with the goal of having a large population for re-introduction to Lord Howe Island if the project to eradicate the invasive rats is successful.
References
- ANZECC Endangered Fauna Network (2002). [Dryococelus australis]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is critically endangered
- [The Lord Howe Island Phasmid: an extinct species reborn] by David Priddel, at the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife
- [Sticks and stones] article, Sydney Morning Herald, 18 October 2003 (with picture)
- [Giant stick insect rediscovered], science news 14 February 2001 at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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