The story of the Lord Howe Island stick insect, made extinct from Lord Howe Island by an invasion of rats in the 1920s and its astonishing rediscovery decades later by rock climbers scaling a mid-ocean volcanic spire. Details the recovery program by a team of dedicated scientists and a controversial plan to restore it to its rightful home. Blending science, adventure and history, Return of the Phasmid is the enthralling true story of the rarest insect in Australia, perhaps the world.