The Lazarus Effect Isn't Just a Movie

By Anonymous -

Did you know there’s an insect that came out of extinction? Dryococelus australis, dubbed by the English as the “tree lobster”, is a giant species of wingless stick insect. Measuring at an impressive 12 cm in length, these dark brown insects appear bright green as nymphs and typically inhabit hollow trees, munching on leaves at night. Tree lobsters pair off for life, and during the day when tree lobsters are inactive, the males can be seen with three legs covering their female partner, protecting her. 


Lord Howe Island stick insect - Australian Geographic

Dryococelus australis resting on a scientist's hand

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/wp/content/uploads/2018/06/Lord_Howe_Island_stick_insect_Dryoc               ocelus_australis_10June2011_PalmNursery.jpg


Long ago, these insects had an established and flourishing population on Lord Howe Island, an island off the coast of Australia. However, in 1918 a ship was damaged and had to stop at the island so the crew could do repairs. During the few days of repair, rats that hitched a ride aboard the ship escaped and began to occupy the island. These rats quickly discovered that the tree lobsters were an abundant and delicious food source. Quickly, the population of this stick insect dwindled, and in 1960, the tree lobster was declared extinct.

Fast forward to 2001, when David Priddel and Nicholas Carlile, two Australian entomologists decided to search Ball’s Pyramid, a small rocky mountain island belonging to Lord Howe Island, for the critters after hearing from climbers that they had seen a “few stick insect corpses lying on the rocks”. Tree lobsters are nocturnal, so the scientists had to climb the mountain on Lord Howe Island in the dark, which proved to be a difficult and dangerous endeavor. The adventure was successful however, as a group of about 24 large stick insects were found surrounding a single bush in the side of the mountain. After consecutive searches, Priddel and Carlile reported that, as far as they knew, these were the only living tree lobsters on Earth. Two years later, after a battle with the Australian government, the scientists were allowed to take 4 lobsters to attempt to breed and hopefully recolonize the island with their offspring. One pair quickly died, but the other, despite a short scare of illness, successfully produced about 30 viable eggs.


Six-Legged Giant Finds Secret Hideaway, Hides For 80 Years : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR

Nicholas Carlile with his discovery

https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years


As of 2022, over 19,000 tree lobsters have hatched, spanning over 16 generations. This extremely fortunate result, however, will only mark true success once these individuals are used to reestablish a population in their natural habitat on Lord Howe Island. Doing so is easier said than done, however. There are two major roadblocks standing in the way. For one, the descendants of the original rats that left the ship and invaded the island are still around and still hungry. A large and costly struggle would have to take place in order to exterminate these invasive rats from the island for good. Secondly, the human inhabitants of Lord Howe Island are not too excited about the rehabilitation endeavor. While they would be glad to rid the island of rats, the idea of a giant and strange looking insect becoming their new neighbors is undesirable to some. At this stage in the process, it will take an initiative originating from the landowners of Lord Howe Island itself to reintroduce tree lobsters to the wild.



References:

Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. (n.d.). Dryococelus australis - lord Howe Island Phasmid, land lobster. Dryococelus australis - Lord Howe Island Phasmid, Land Lobster. https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=66752 

Department of Planning and Environment. (2022, November 1). Rediscovering the lord howe island stick insect. NSW Environment and Heritage. https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/rediscovering-the-lord-howe-island-phasmid 

Krulwich, R. (2012, February 29). Six-legged giant finds secret hideaway, hides for 80 years. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years 







 

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