The Lord Howe Island phasmid (stick insect) is the world’s rarest insect and the entire population was limited to one bush on a remote sea stack. Image Credit: Granitethighs/Wikimedia

By Becky Crew

Becky is a Sydney-based science communicator with a love for weird and wonderful animals.

FOR AN INSECT to be otherwise known as a ‘land lobster’, you know it’s got to be seriously big. The Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) is a flightless, nocturnal insect that stretches up to 12cm long, and weighs 8-9g.

During the 19th century, this large insect prowled Lord Howe Island in such numbers that fishermen would use them as bait.

But then mice were introduced to the island, followed by black rats in 1918, and they made such a meal of these insect that by 1920 not a single one was recorded on the island. By 1960 they were officially proclaimed extinct.