The Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (Dryococelus australis) is one of the world's rarest insects. However, the opportunity to reintroduce the species to Lord Howe Island, and commence the path to recovery, may occur within the next five years. Understanding the insect's host plant and habitat preferences on Lord Howe Island is critical to maximising the likelihood of reintroduction success. However, very little ecological information was documented before the species became extinct on the island in the 1930s. Here we examine the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect's preference for potential host plants, a key aspect of habitat suitability. We conducted preference trials using 15 common plant species found on Lord Howe Island. Both nymphs and adults consumed some but not all of these plant species.Nymphs were able to survive on seven of these 15 plants for the duration of the 26-day trials although failed to survive on some of the plants most preferred by adults. Overall, these data reveal that there are numerous plants on Lord Howe Island that the stick insect can consume, though their suitability varies with different developmental stages of the insect. These data are encouraging for any future reintroduction attempts and would greatly aid the selection and monitoring of release sites. one or more large (rodent-proof if necessary) enclosures of potentially suitable forest on the island. This would allow behaviours, including host plant use and preferences, and rates of survival and population growth to be examined in a natural, but contained environment.Finally, we hope that this approach to assessing host plant use and preferences may be of value to other conservation programs that are investigating the reintroduction or introduction of herbivorous invertebrates.

The Plains-wanderer is unlike any other bird on Earth – it's one of a kind! On the Trail of the Plains-wanderer tells the true story of one of Australia's most critically endangered bird species. This unique, quirky and precious bird faces many threats, but continues to survive against the odds. Discover more about this fascinating bird and see how people are providing hope for their future. Reading level varies from child to child, but we recommend this book for ages 5 to 9.

The Eastern Barred Bandicoot is one of Australia's most threatened species. When their existence came under extreme threat from habitat loss, predators and human development, Eastern Barred Bandicoots found refuge in the most unlikely of places – a rubbish tip. This captivating true story details the plight these small, nocturnal marsupials faced, and the outstanding efforts that ensured their protection. Written by Rohan Cleave and illustrated by Coral Tulloch, Bouncing Back shows that even on the brink of extinction, there is hope for the survival of our most vulnerable species. Rohan Cleave and Coral Tulloch's first book, Phasmid: Saving the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect, won a Whitley Award for Children's Natural History Book and was an Honour Book in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book Awards (Eve Pownall Information Book category). Bouncing Back is perfect for primary aged readers.

We present a chromosome scale genome assembly for Dryococelus australis, a critically endangered Australian phasmid. The assembly, constructed with Pacific Biosciences continuous long reads and chromatin conformation capture (Omni-C) data, is 3.42 Gbp in length with a scaffold N50 of 262.27 Mbp and L50 of 5. Over 99% of the assembly is contained in 17 major scaffolds which corresponds to the species’ karyotype. The assembly contains 96.3% of insect BUSCO genes in single copy. A custom repeat library identified 63.29% of the genome covered by repetitive elements; most were not identifiable based on similarity to sequences in existing databases. A total of 33,793 putative protein coding genes were annotated. Despite the high contiguity and single copy BUSCO content of the assembly, over 1 Gbp of the flow cytometry estimated genome size is not represented, likely due to the large and repetitive nature of the genome. We identified the X chromosome with a coverage based analysis and searched for homologs of genes known to be X linked across the genus Timema. We found 59% of these genes on the putative X chromosome, indicating strong conservation of X chromosomal content across 120 million years of phasmid evolution.

Phasmid is the amazing true story of the Lord Howe Island Phasmid, or Stick Insect. Believed to be extinct for nearly 80 years, the phasmids were rediscovered on Balls Pyramid, a volcanic outcrop 23 kilometres off the coast of Lord Howe Island, Australia. News of their unbelievable survival made headlines around the world and prompted an extraordinary conservation effort to save this remarkable invertebrate. This wonderful tale captures the life of one of the world's most critically endangered invertebrates, from beginning life as an egg to surviving harsh environments and the hopeful return to their homeland, Lord Howe Island. With a captivating narrative by Rohan Cleave, invertebrate zookeeper at Melbourne Zoo, and stunning watercolour illustrations by renowned artist Coral Tulloch, Phasmid is a positive story about one species' incredible survival in a time of worldwide species decline. Phasmid is perfect for primary aged readers. Honour Book, The CBCA Eve Pownall Award for Information Books 2016 Shortlisted for The Wilderness Society's Annual Environment Award for Children's Literature 2016 Recipient of a 2016 Whitley Award commendation for Children's Conservation Book