Australia is known for its exceptional biodiversity. The country separated from the supercontinent Gondwana nearly 135 million years ago, and completed its separation from Antarctica over the last 40 ...

Known for exceptional mimicry, stick insects have evolved a range of egg-laying techniques to maximize egg survival while maintaining their disguise – including dropping eggs to the ground, skewering ...

The Lord Howe Island stick insect vanished from its home, but an effort at zoos in San Diego and Melbourne highlights the possibilities and challenges of conserving invertebrate animals. Lord Howe ...

Stick insects keep evolving to have the same strange body plans over and over again, scientists have discovered. This ...

Considered extinct for over 80 years, a chance find on a sea stack where little survives has sparked hope for the future of the Lord Howe Island stick insect. When the SS Makambo ran aground on the ...

"There are longer stick insects out there [in the region], but they're fairly light-bodied," he said. "From what we know to date, this is Australia's heaviest insect." The eggs of the roughly ...

It's commonly assumed that when insects are eaten by birds, they and their unborn young have no chance of survival. However, a team of researchers hypothesized that the eggs within insect bodies can ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. The Lord Howe stick insect (Dryococelus australis) was ...

A large stick insect from a remote Australian island is back from the dead. It's hard to miss a Lord Howe Island stick insect, sometimes called a "tree lobster." Their blackish brown bodies grow to be ...

James O'Hanlon receives funding from the University of New England and the Australia Pacific Science Foundation. He is affiliated with In Situ Science Ltd. The key to a stick insect’s survival may be ...

Stick bugs are a fascinating insect variety. They have uniquely camouflaged bodies that make them fun models in science education. But their eating habits can devastate trees and damage forests. This ...