Lord Howe Island Phasmid
By:Sophie🌟
The Lord Howe Island Phasmid
The Lord Howe Island Phasmid was very plentiful back then, until people introduced black rats in 1918. The Lord Howe Island Phasmid was a food source to lobsters. Once they were threatened the main food source of lobsters was limited.
Size
Names
Did you know that the Lord Howe Island Phasmid is some times called the walking sausage, land lobster and dryococelus australis?
Population
Did you know that the Lord Howe Island Phasmid is so endanged that there is only roughly 20-30 individuals left in the wild?
Extintion
The Lord Howe Island Phasmid was thought to be extinct in 1920's but was re-dicovered in 2001
Breeding in captivity
One zoo was very successful with breeding the Lord Howe Island Phasmids. They bred over 9,000! Wow that's a very large amount.
How rare?
This insect is so rare that it's only found living in a small span of roughly 10 metres!
A summary of the Story
The Lord Howe Island Phasmid was thought to be extinct in 1918. There was no record of seeing a Lord Howe Island Phasmid so it was declared extinct in 1960. In 2001 they were re-dicovered. But not on Lord Howe Island it was on a small vocanic rock called Balls Pyramid. They didn't know how it got there but there think the eggs were on birds and got into their nest and sooner than later they hatched.
What made them even more endangered?
It was the invasion of weeds, human disturbance and insect collectors.