Lord Howe Island stick-insect

The Lord Howe Island phasmid is a stick-insect endemic to the island for which it is named, off the east coast of Australia. Presumed extinct by the 1930s, a tiny population was discovered in 2001 on Ball’s Pyramid - a rocky islet 15 miles from Lord Howe Island. These large, flightless insects are bright green as nymphs and shiny black as adults. They feed on Melaleuca howeana shrubs. Captive breeding began in 2003 from just four individuals. There are now thousands of stick-insects held across five institutions. Lord Howe Island stick-insects are listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The major threat to the stick-insect was invasive rodents, but still includes weeds, exotic plant diseases and habitat degradation.
If awarded $1 million from the Indianapolis Zoo’s Saving Species Challenge, conservationists would take the following steps:
Develop a detailed reintroduction plan, in consultation with the LHI community
Monitor the wild population and manage their habitat on Ball’s Pyramid
Integrate new individuals from Ball’s Pyramid into the captive population
Implement trial reintroductions
Monitor and evaluate release trials
You can learn more about the Lord Howe Island stick-insect from Zoos Victoria. www.zoo.org.au
The winner of the Indianapolis Zoo’s Saving Species Challenge will be announced later this year. Bookmark www.ProtectSpecies.com for updates.