Bugs, insects and spiders « Te Papa's Blog

Category Archives: Bugs, insects and spiders

A few more botanical highlights from the Foxton fieldtrip….and a katipo spider!

11 April 2013 – 9.19am

I also spent an enjoyable few days over Easter on the Wellington Botanical Society fieldtrip (see Leon’s blog about the trip). Here are a few more photos from the trip.

A carpet of tiny ‘3-leaf clover’-like leaves, growing on the shores of Lake Koitiata. We think this is Hydrocotyle sulcata. Photo: Lara Shepherd

The distinctive asymmetric flower of Selliera rotundifolia. Photo: Lara Shepherd

The keen eyes of Bot Soc member Bev Abbott spotted the tiny fruit of sand gunnera (Gunnera arenaria). Photo: Lara Shepherd

It is difficult to believe that this tiny native species is in the same genus as the huge Chilean rhubarb. The leaves of this weedy exotic can be several metres in height.

Sand coprosma (Coprosma acerosa). The fruit colour of this species can vary but the sand coprosma we saw in the dunes near Foxton had striking blue striped fruit. Photo: Lara Shepherd

During a break from botanizing Viv McGlynn located this Katipo spider under a piece of driftwood in the dunes. Photo: Lara Shepherd

Find out more about the endangered katipo here.

By Lara Shepherd | Also posted in Biodiversity, Field trips, Plants | Tagged coastal plants, Foxton, Katipo spider, sand dunes, Wellington Botanical Society | Comments (0)

Critters of the Poor Knights Islands

16 February 2013 – 8.05pm

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used by these elegant seabirds, both when raising young and when on migration. Here, Colin illustrates some of the large invertebrates that also occur on the islands.

The Poor Knights Islands are a treasure trove for large invertebrates, many of which have been wiped out by introduced predators on the mainland. The long isolation of the islands has also meant that some endemic species have evolved – i.e. species that only ever occurred on the Poor Knights Islands.

Flax snails were abundant under rocks and in seabird burrows, emerging on damp nights to graze on fallen leaves. It is thought that these large snails were introduced to the Poor Knights Islands from the Northland mainland by Maori.

Flax snails (Placostylus hongii), Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Amborhytida dunniae is a medium-sized carnivorous snail that also occurs in declining numbers on the Northland mainland. We found one among leaf litter on a damp night.

Amborhytida dunniae, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

One of the most surprising finds of the trip was a previously unknown large leaf-veined slug (family Athoracophoridae). We found four large animals (10 cm long at rest) on the sunny northern side of a towai trunk on a hot summer afternoon. They had probably been caught in the open after climbing to the canopy during rain the night before. These impressive slugs proved to be a new record for the Poor Knights Islands, and are likely to be a new species in an as-yet unnamed genus. Two other similar species occur at Waipoua/Trounson in Northland, and Hikurangi in the Bay of Plenty.

Giant leaf-veined slugs sun-bathing on a towai trunk on Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. This species was previously unknown to science. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Giant centipede (Cormocephalus rubriceps). This large centipede (up to 25 cm) is widespread in the North Island and also in Australia, but reaches its largest size on rat-free offshore islands. They were mainly seen on the forest floor at night, actively hunting for large insects and lizards. A few were seen in seabird burrows in the daytime, which we tried to block out of our minds as we reached in to extract shearwater adults and chicks.

Large, fast and venomous - a very good reason to keep your tent firmly zipped closed. Giant centipede on Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Large, fast and venomous – a very good reason to keep your tent firmly zipped closed. Giant centipede (Cormocephalus rubriceps) on Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Poor Knights giant weta (Deinacrida fallai). Second in size only to the Little Barrier giant weta, this is one of New Zealnd’s largest insects. One female we weighed was 49 grams. They stayed well-hidden during the day, but emerged at night to browse on leaves, and many females were seen laying their eggs in the soil of the forest floor.

A female Poor Knights giant weta sits on the author’s hand. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

A female Poor Knights giant weta laying eggs on the forest floor. Note the position of her long ovipositor (egg-laying appendage) compared to the previous photograph. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Like all insects, weta have to moult their hard exoskeleton in order to grow. The moulting female shown here was suspended upside down from a flax bush when first found. She then turned around and ate every last scrap of her old skin, recycling the precious chiton while her new skin hardened. By the morning there was nothing left of the out-sized exoskeleton, and the still pale newly-moulted female was hiding nearby.

Female Poor Knights giant weta moulting, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

A freshly moulted Poor Knights giant weta consumes its old exoskeleton. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Poor Knights giant jumping weta (Gymnoplectron giganteum). New Zealand’s largest jumping weta (or cave weta) is found only on the Poor Knights Islands, and has been measured at 45 cm from antenna tip to the tip of the hind leg (though the body makes up only 10% of this). We mainly saw them on damp nights, when they ran and jumped rapidly away from our lights.

Poor Knights giant jumping weta (Gymnoplectron giganteum), Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Poor Knights ground weta (Hemiandrus sp. aff. anomalus). This yet-to-be-named endemic species emerged from its burrows in large numbers on damp nights, otherwise few were seen. With a body-length of 35 mm, and shorter appendages, it is much smaller than its more famous cousins mentioned above.

Poor Knights ground weta, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Clapping cicada (Amphipsalta cingulata). Common throughout the northern North Island and around Wellington, the clapping cicada spends most of its life as flightless nymphs living in the soil. The song of male clapping cicadas is one of the distinctive sounds of the New Zealand summer.

Clapping cicada (Amphipsalta cingulata) nymph, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Adult clapping cicada (Amphipsalta cingulata), Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Flax weevil (Anagotus fairburni). These large flightless weevils feed only on flax (harakeke and wharariki), with the adults emerging at night to chew on the tough, fibrous leaves. Formerly found throughout New Zealand, they are now confined to rodent-free habitats, including a few mountain tops. They are most readily found on pest-free islands off northern New Zealand, in Cook Strait, and in Fiordland.

Flax weevil (Anagotus fairburni) feeding on flax/harakeke, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Turbott’s weevil (Anagotus turbotti). Slightly larger than its flax-eating relative, Turbott’s weevil has an even more restricted distribution – on the Poor Knights Islands, Three Kings Islands, and Muriwhenua Island in the Chickens Islands. All these islands have never had rats, whereas all the larger islands in the Hen & Chickens group had introduced Pacific rats (kiore) until they were eradicated from all but one of the islands. We saw about ten individuals, all at night, and mainly on karaka trunks. Three were seen feeding on ngaio leaves on the same bush, and one was on flax alongside its smaller cousins.

Turbott’s weevil (Anagotus turbotti) on ngaio, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Purple rock crab (Leptograpsus variegatus). These large crabs are widely distributed in rocky intertidal areas in northern New Zealand, but are extraordinarily abundant on the Poor Knights Islands. The full protection they receive from the combined (land-based) nature reserve and adjoining marine reserve gives a hint of the impacts human hunting pressure has had on our marine organisms elsewhere. At several points on the wave platform on Aorangi Island I was able to count over 50 purple rock crabs as they scuttled away from me. They were typically hyper-sensitive to movement, but one group were so intent on feasting on a dead shearwater that they allowed my close approach. Another was seen feeding on a dead bellbird at a brackish water hole on the edge of the forest, but it is not known whether it caught the bird or scavenged its corpse.

Purple rock crabs (Leptograpsus variegatus) scavenge the corpse of a Buller’s shearwater, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation (DOC) for organising and leading the visit, and Bruce Marshall (Te Papa) and Gary Barker (Landcare Reasearch) for their thoughts on the giant slugs.

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Conservation, Crustacea, Field trips | Tagged centipede, cicada, crabs, molluscs, slug, snails, weevil, weta | Comments (4)

Life through a burrowscope lens (Part 2) – subterranean Poor Knights Islands

16 February 2013 – 8.03pm

Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used by these elegant seabirds, both when raising young and when on migration. Buller’s shearwaters breed only on the Poor Knights Islands, and migrate to the North Pacific after breeding. They breed in rock crevices or in burrows that they excavate in soil. Here, Colin describes some of the wildlife they share their subterranean homes with.

An adult Buller’s shearwater on Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

A burrowscope is a field-hardened endoscope on steroids, used to view the interior of burrows. It can be used to determine whether a burrow is occupied or vacant, to identify what species is in a burrow, and to provide information on breeding success. At least seven species of seabirds excavate or breed in burrows and rock crevices on the Poor Knights Islands, and many other animals also inhabit the thousands of burrows there.

Buller’s shearwater burrows on Oneho hill, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

The following images show some of the secrets of underground life on this pest-free nature reserve. During our visit (late January to early February), most of the breeding seabird species had finished breeding, but the Buller’s shearwaters had recently hatched their eggs.

An adult Buller’s shearwater inside its burrow, viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Buller’s shearwater egg viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Buller’s shearwater chick inside its burrow, viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Several species of reptiles live in burrows on the Poor Knights Islands, including tuatara, which occasionally kill and eat shearwater chicks. The smaller skinks and geckos usually move rapidly away from the light cast by the burrowscope, and rarely pose long enough for a photograph to be taken.

Tuatara inside a shearwater burrow on Aorangi Island, as viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

A marbled skink (the dark shape on the right) inside a shearwater burrow on Aorangi Island, as viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Duvaucel’s gecko inside a shearwater burrow on Aorangi Island, as viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Flax snails hide in seabird burrows and under rocks during the day, emerging on damp nights to graze on fallen leaves.

Flax snail (Placostylus hongii) inside a shearwater burrow on Aorangi Island, as viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

In addition to many seabird species, some landbirds also nest in burrows. We found a kingfisher nest in a low bank, with the entrance only 20 cm above the forest floor. The two large chicks inside froze statue-like when the burrowscope was inserted into their hole.

Kingfisher burrow entrance, Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Two fully-grown kingfisher chicks inside their burrow on Aorangi Island, viewed through a burrowscope. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Field trips, Reptiles | Tagged Buller's shearwater, burrowscope, gecko, kingfisher, lizards, skink, snails, tuatara | Comments (4)

Critters of Titi Island Nature Reserve, Marlborough Sounds

16 January 2013 – 4.28pm

Titi Island is a 32-ha reserve administered by the Department of Conservation and situated in the outer Marlborough Sounds. The island’s fauna was impacted by introduced Norway rats until these were eradicated in the early 1970s. The island has since been free of all introduced predators. Two species of large flightless insects plus tuatara were introduced to the island between 1995 & 2001 (see below). Te Papa researchers visited the island in January 2013 to attach tracking devices to breeding flesh-footed shearwaters, and to estimate the breeding population of these threatened birds. Our 3-day visit also provided an opportunity to encounter some of the island’s more cryptic wildlife.

The most well-known of Titi Island’s inhabitants are the tuatara introduced from North Brother Island and from captivity in 1995. At the time, tuatara from the Brothers Islands were considered to be a separate species from other tuatara. More recent genetic research has resulted in all tuatara being lumped back together as a single variable species. We encountered several tuatara inside shearwater burrows that we checked with a burrowscope.

Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Three lizard species are known from Titi Island. We found all three species to be present, but were surprised how few individuals we found. Rodent-free islands typically have abundant lizard populations.

Spotted skink (Oligosoma lineoocellatum) among iceplant on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

The two spotted skinks seen were among low coastal vegetation, as was the single common gecko found. Spotted skinks occur from Hawke’s Bay south to South Canterbury, but are most abundant on islands in the Marlborough Sounds and Wellington Harbour. They are a sun-loving species, and are most often noticed as they move back under cover when they detect someone approaching. Common geckos occur from Northland to Marlborough and Nelson, and are extremely abundant on many islands in the Marlborough Sounds and around Wellington. They are nocturnal, hiding during the day and emerging to forage at night.

Common gecko (Woodworthia maculata) on dead coastal flax/wharariki on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

The single brown skink seen was among a rock outcrop under forest. This species occurs from Taranaki south to north Westland, again being most abundant on rodent-free islands. It does not require as much access to sunlight as the larger spotted skink, and can be found under open forest as well as among grass and shrubland.

Brown skink (Oligosoma zelandicum) on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Weevils are a group of beetles with a bad name, as some species are major pests of crops and stored food products. But they are an extraordinarily diverse group, with the weevil family containing more species than any other family of organisms on the planet. New Zealand has several large flightless weevil species that are mainly or entirely confined to sites that lack introduced rodents. These include the flax weevils introduced to Titi Island from nearby Maud Island in 2001. We found their characteristic feeding sign on flax plants all over the island, but the 2 cm-long animals were only visible at night when they emerged to feed.

Flax weevil (Anagotus fairburni) and its characteristic ragged feeding sign on a coastal flax/wharariki leaf on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

The most frequently encountered large beetle on Titi Island was a species of darkling beetle (genus Mimopeus). These also emerged at night, but were often found under rocks and in bird burrows during the day, and their larvae were common in the soil. Darkling beetles are a staple diet item for tuatara on many islands, though tuatara are partial to weta when they can catch them.

Darkling beetle (Mimopeus sp.) on a tree trunk on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

We failed to find any sign of the Cook Strait giant weta introduced to Titi Island from Maud Island in 2001, but did not have an opportunity to search the right habitats at night. The similarly-sized Wellington tree weta were very common, emerging at night and mainly staying in the trees out of reach of hungry tuatara.

Female Wellington tree weta (Hemideina crassidens) on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

We had been warned of tent-eating ground weta before our arrival. These voracious little (2.5 cm-long) weta live in tunnels in the soil and emerge at night to find other insects to eat. If anything is placed over their tunnel entrances, they simply chew through it. Rather than having our tent groundsheets wrecked, we devised the cunning plan of placing snow-foam bedrolls under the groundsheets. This was to little avail – the ground weta still chewed through them!

Ground weta (Hemiandrus sp.) on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

Sarah Jamieson eyeballing one of several holes chewed through her bedroll by ground weta on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

We also found several shells and one live animal of the medium-sized native landsnail Rhytida stephenensis. This carnivorous snail grows up to 34 mm across and is found on islands in the Marlborough Sounds and south to Kaikoura, with subfossil records from Takaka Hill.

The carnivorous snail Rhytida stephenensis on Titi Island. Image: Colin Miskelly, Te Papa

By Colin Miskelly | Also posted in Biodiversity, Conservation, Field trips, Reptiles | Tagged gecko, lizards, skink, snail, tuatara, weevil, weta | Comments (3)

Te Papa researcher’s major contribution to NZ biodiversity inventory

22 May 2012 – 10.16am

Te Papa scientists figure prominently among the 238 researchers who have contributed to a major new publication: The Inventory of New Zealand Biodiversity.

Te Papa taxonomists whos work was instrumental in describing over 80% of the animal groups for New Zealand

Te Papa taxonomists whose work was instrumental in describing over 80% of the animal groups for New Zealand. Photo Jean-Claude Stahl. Copyright Te Papa.

The third and final volume of this 12-year project was launched at Te Papa yesterday, and celebrated the work of scientists from 19 countries, cataloguing over 56,000 species.

Dennis Gordon with the third volume of the New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity launched in Wellington 21 May 2012. Photo Jean-Claude Stahl. Copyright Te Papa.

The work was brought together by Dennis Gordon from NIWA, with contributions from all major research institutions in New Zealand including Crown Research Institutes, museum researchers such as Te Papa’s Natural Environment curators, and researchers in universities and government agencies. The work is used actively by researchers nationally and globally to describe and catalogue species occurring within the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone. For example, the New Zealand Organisms Register (NZOR), the official body which lists names of species occurring in New Zealand uses the Inventory as one of its primary sources of data. Find out more about NZOR.

http://www.nzor.org.nz/

Te Papa’s team of taxonomist are a small but highly effective group, contributing around 20% of the chapters authored on the major animal groups by professional New Zealand contributors to the books. They contributed to chapters that described over 80% ofNew Zealand’s animals. Their work encompasses a very broad range of species, with expertise on animals and plants from orchids to seaweeds, insects and parasites, deep sea fishes and whales to extinct birds.

The work is a monument to the collaborative efforts of researchers across New Zealand, and will have ongoing utility in helping us to manage species and their conservation threats, long term. We appreciate the efforts of the institutions and individuals involved, in particular NIWA, Landcare Research, and Canterbury University Press. Find out more information about the publication.

http://www.cup.canterbury.ac.nz/releases/2012/120405a.shtml

By Susan Waugh | Also posted in Biodiversity, Collections Online, Fish, Fossils, Museums, Plants | Tagged New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity, Species 2000, taxonomy | Comments (0)

Our Far South: from shipwrecks to high seas

16 February 2012 – 8.06am

Becalmed in Carnley Harbour. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa

I awoke to find that the boat had moved over night to the bottom end of the Auckland Islands, into Carnley harbour, with Adams island to our south. Adams island is home to Gibson’s wandering albatross – DNA research is currently being carried out to determine if Gibson’s Albatross is distinct from other wandering albatross species.

We had incredibly calm weather and took a zodiac ride up one of the arms of the misty harbour to visit what was left of the wreck of the Grafton. One of the great tales of survival of early sailing in the our sub-Antarctic seas. The five men aboard set about extending one of their life dingies, they had to even make their own nails! they made a sturdy little craft to take three of them back to New Zealand in search of help for the two men left behind.

Wreck of the Grafton. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa.

Now what is left of the Grafton is used primarily as a sealion hangout.

Our investigations on the rocky shore revealed something that surprised me, a spider living in the intertidal zone! I hope that when I get back to Te Papa that my photo will be enough to help Phil Sirvid identify it.

We spent the morning looking at areas within Carnley Harbour, including an area where rata trees were once cut down by the crew of a German merchant vessel at the start of World War Two. They used the wood as fuel to enable their vessel to reach Chile.

Adams Island in fog, Carnley Harbour. Photo Anton van Helden, copyright Te Papa

“Figure of Eight” Island is home to the most southern breeding site for NZ sealions in the Auckland group. Unlike sealions at Sandy Bay on Enderby Island these sealions breed in the bush on this small flat islet.

It has been a calm sailing so far, and so there has been a chance to give lectures and have debates. The primary one today being about the NZ sealion and their interactions with the commercial fishery for arrow squid. Lots of things may be influencing the decline of the this sealion population, however it seems clear that fisheries are unlikely to be completely blameless in this. Female NZ sealions, have to work very hard to get the food they need to be able to keep themselves in good condition and to pass that on to their dependent pups. The squid fishery coincides with the exact time when female sealions are foraging hardest to meet the demands of supplying milk to their pups. NZ sealion is the only sealion in the world where the survival of females is less than that of males: it is mostly female sealions that historicaly have been caught as by-catch in the squid fishery. Which surely can not help when a population like this is affected by other influences like disease outbreaks and even normal levels of predation.

Sealion Exclusion Devices (SLEDs) have been put in the trawl nets of the fishery. There is much debate about the chances of a sealion surviving being thrown out of a net at 200m depth. the fishing industry claims that they are now not catching any sealions, but perhaps these SLEDs are just removing the evidence of mortality from their catch.

I have been keeping a look out for Whales…you can only see them if you look!

Heading south. Image WWF.

After lunch we set sail out in to the wilds of the Southern Ocean on our way further south to Macquarie Island. I am greatly looking forward to seeing the elephant seals at Macquarie.

By antonvanhelden | Also posted in Birds, Field trips, History, Mammals, Plants, Whales | Tagged albatross, Auckland Islands, Our Far South, sealions, shipwreck, Whales | Comments (0)

Night Life on the Poor Knights Islands

3 February 2012 – 1.19pm

The Poor Knights Islands, northeast of Whangarei, are perhaps best known as a world-class diving location, but the life on land is no less astonishing and it really comes alive at night.

The Poor Knights Islands are the remnants of a volcanic island chain. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

Aorangi Island where we set up camp. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

In December 2011, I assisted seabird expert Graeme Taylor with his work on the migration of Buller’s Shearwaters. This species of petrel breeds only on the Poor Knights but there are massive numbers there, and in the breeding season they are a common coastal bird all around New Zealand. Graeme had attached geologgers to birds’ legs in March and needed to recapture these individuals to retrieve the data from the little devices. When we retrieved geologgers, Graeme could download the information onto his laptop in the field, so straightaway we could see the amazing journey that these birds take in their non-breeding season – firstly east of New Zealand, then rapidly north across the equator to east of Japan, then across to the North American west coast before shooting back southwest to the Poor Knights. This mammoth trip is an annual event for each bird but until now the precise route of the migration was unknown.

Buller's shearwaters nest only on the Poor Knights. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

DOC's Graeme Taylor holding a Buller's shearwater. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

A geologger on a Buller's shearwater's leg will record its migration around the Pacific. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

Like most petrels, Buller’s Shearwaters nest in rabbit-like burrows and are active on the breeding grounds only at night, so we spent most of our time with our arms down holes or searching the ground for birds at night. This gave us an opportunity to see how the islands transform from being a quiet coastal forest environment by day to a place teeming with night life. Many species of weta, giant centipedes, Placostylus snails, tuatara, numerous lizards, as well as the ever present shearwaters, only show themselves at night.

The giant land snail Placostylus hongii is common on the Poor Knights. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

This Poor Knights giant weta, climbing on DOC ranger Matiu Mataira, was found hiding in our tent. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

A tuatara hunting at night. Photo Alan Tennyson, Te Papa

The Poor Knights are special for two key reasons: (1) they remained isolated from mainland New Zealand during the last glaciation (so have been islands for 10,000s of years) – this led to the evolution of many unique forms of plants and animals; (2) rats, cats, stoats, and other predatory mammals, never became established, so the biota has survived human modifications largely intact.

It’s only when you visit a place like the Poor Knights that you understand what New Zealand was like before human times.

Thanks to Graeme, Keith Hawkins and Matiu Mataira (all Department of Conservation) for facilitating my visit.

By Alan Tennyson, Curator Natural Environment

By Te Papa | Also posted in Biodiversity, Birds, Reptiles | Tagged Buller's shearwhater, centipede, Poor Knights Islands, shearwater, snail, tuatara, weta | Comments (5)

Animal and plant collections

15 July 2011 – 1.47pm

Te Papa’s Natural Environment team have revamped their webpages. You can access them here.

Collection highlights online include:

Big fish
Medicinal ferns of the second Maori king
Unique bird eggs and skeletons
Colossal squid
Plants collected during Captain Cook’s first expedition
GV Hudson insect collection
Nests of extinct birds

North Island Brown Kiwi, Apteryx mantelli, New Zealand. Te Papa

The following links will take you to more information on specific collections:

Birds
Crustacea (crabs, shrimps, lobsters, etc.)
Fish
Fossil vertebrates
Insects and spiders
Marine mammals (whales, dolphins, seals)
Molluscs (snails, shellfish, squid, etc.)
Plants

Let us know below what additional information you would like to see online about Te Papa’s collections of animals and plants.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Birds, Colossal squid, Fish, Fossils, Plants, Reptiles, Whales | Tagged animals, collections, highlights, plant, specimens | Comments (2)

Creating a buzz

22 February 2011 – 7.38am

I was recently surprised to find my plant of Aupouri coastal five-finger (Pseudopanax lessonii) swarming with flies.

Flies, including Calliphora vicina (the larger, blue fly) and Oxysarcodexia varia (with yellow-black stripes), swarming on the flowers of Aupouri coastal five-finger. My thanks to entomological colleagues for identifying the flies. (c) Leon Perrie

The flies were attracted to the flowers presumably by a feed of nectar on what was a hot, summer day.

I could see at least three fly species, plus a bumblebee.

Pollination is not a role we often credit to flies. I’m hoping these ones were effective and I get a bumper seed crop.

By Leon Perrie | Also posted in Plants, Pseudopanax | Tagged flowers, pollination, Pseudopanax | Comments (0)

Picture Library news – Spiders

30 August 2010 – 3.10pm

Te Papa’s Natural Environment team have recently been putting a lot of effort into photographing their collection of spiders and putting the images up on Collections Online for you to view. I thought it was time to showcase some of this fantastic imagery.

Phil Sirvid, Collection Manager Entomology, said the primary objective for this photography is to document our type specimen collection for everyone to see. When someone describes a new species, they pick one specimen from all those they’ve examined to be the type for that species. That specimen is the one to which the new species name is attached so it’s like a gold standard for the species. When researchers from overseas want to borrow type specimens, New Zealand law requires an export permit for the specimens to leave the country. However, our high quality images of type specimens may show researchers everything they need to see so when this happens there’s no need to lend the specimen. If we don’t have to send the specimen there’s no risk of loss or damage to it and there’s no need to get an export permit.

Of course, these images are not only of interest to specialist researchers. In many cases, type specimens have not been fully illustrated or photographed before now. Our images give everyone a chance to get a highly detailed look at a variety of animals that most people have never seen.

By no means are these spiders easy to photograph, partly because of their size. Te Papa uses the technique of extended depth of field photography to do this. Interested in how Te Papa took these images? Check out the Tales from Te Papa episode about extended depth of field photography.

Sign up to the Te Papa Picture Library’s newsletter to get the latest news on incredible images at http://tepapa.govt.nz/onlineforms/emailpicturelibrary.aspx

Becky Masters
Manager Picture Library

By Te Papa | Also posted in Collections Online | Tagged Collections Online, photography, research, spiders | Comments (1)

Te Papa's Blog

Category Archives: Bugs, insects and spiders

A few more botanical highlights from the Foxton fieldtrip….and a katipo spider!

Critters of the Poor Knights Islands

Life through a burrowscope lens (Part 2) – subterranean Poor Knights Islands

Critters of Titi Island Nature Reserve, Marlborough Sounds

Te Papa researcher’s major contribution to NZ biodiversity inventory

Our Far South: from shipwrecks to high seas

Night Life on the Poor Knights Islands

Animal and plant collections

Creating a buzz

Picture Library news – Spiders

Pages

Recent posts

Categories

Search blog

Join the discussion

Follow us by email

Other blogs

Use of images

Te Papa Links

Te Papa Home - Fingerprint

Te Papa Homepage - Text

What's on

Plan your visit

Education

Collections

Shop

Venues

Follow “Te Papa's Blog”