We all know of quite a few larger endangered animals for example Tigers, Whales and Koalas but right here in Australia we have one of the most if not the most critically endangered insect in the world “the long lost Phasmid”, this species is the stick insect that was almost completely wiped out by rats originally found only on Lord Howe Island.

In this free talk held at the Campbelltown Art Centre Stephen will discuss bug biodiversity in our own back yards. This concept is fairly simple; kids and adults alike can look for invertebrates present in your own gardens which can indicate their vitality, than we can look at what conditions are needed for a healthy and sustainable environment.

If we can start in our home we can expand this concept out to our schools, parks and reserves whereby if we look after the habitat we are looking after all animals, the biggest problem with invertebrates, especially insects is that so many are unknown for example we have in Australia around 450 odd mammals, we know of about 90,000 insects species.

Every year people ask where are the cicadas, where are the Christmas beetles?  The easy answer is to look at where we are, and while we have a range of practices for accessing the environment before development goes ahead, it is usually all too late for the worms, centipedes, spiders, mites and insects that are so important to not only the well being of the habitat where they live, but the whole balance of the environment as a whole and can be traced right back to effecting us (humans) directly if we do not continue to look at all the living creatures contained in biodiversity.

A fairy intelligent man once said “if the bee became extinct, humans would follow in a few years” Albert Einstein.

The Friends of the Long Lost Phasmid are high lighting the plight of this species (Dryococelus australis) so we can save thousands of others invertebrates , we can’t do it alone, come along and see how you too can help even form your own back yard.