Highlights from the 2026 City Nature Challenge in Greater Wellington

The iNaturalist City Nature Challenge is an annual citizen science event where cities worldwide compete to record the most observations and species, and to have the greatest number of participants over a four-day period. Science Researcher Lara Shepherd highlights some of the interesting discoveries made during the challenge, in what is Wellington’s sixth year participating.

This year 347 observers made over 18,500 observations within the Greater Wellington region. The rules of the Challenge changed this year, with cultivated and captive species excluded. Accordingly, the number of species observed dropped compared with last year (almost 2,400 species in 2026 vs 2,708 in 2025).

Notable discoveries

Chris Close made the first New Zealand iNaturalist observation of the introduced orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida) in a Karori garden. Cultivated plants were excluded from the Challenge this year, but self-sown plants such as this were permitted.

This hydrozoa (relative of corals and jellyfish) was recorded near Tītahi Bay by Luca Davenport-Thomas. Luca recorded the only other three iNaturalist observations from New Zealand, also from the Wellington region.

Two independent observations of the rust fungus Melampsora helioscopiae were made at Karori Cemetery two days apart during the Challenge. These represent the first iNaturalist records for the North Island and only the second and third records ever reported outside Europe.

Christopher Stephens made the first iNaturalist observation for the southern North Island of the lichen Rinodina thiomela.

Christopher also recorded the first iNaturalist record for the North Island, and the third for the country, of this endemic armoured scale insect, Leucaspis melicytidis.

This year, there were fewer observations from Wellington’s South Coast owing to the ongoing untreated wastewater discharge. The poor water quality didn’t deter a pod of four orca, which was recorded close to shore by six iNaturalist observers.

Richard Littauer’s observation of Liparophyllum gunnii in the Tararua Ranges is the first iNaturalist record for the Greater Wellington region. This species was recently assessed as Regionally Data Deficient in the Conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in the Greater Wellington region. This ranking doesn’t mean the species is safe; it means we don’t know enough to judge its status. Every new, verifiable record helps fill that gap.

Uwe Schneehagen recorded the second iNaturalist observation from the southern North Island of the rare endemic weevil Crisius ornatus.

Te Papa’s Botany curator Leon Perrie documented the first North Island iNaturalist record, and only the fifth record nationwide, of the endemic moss Macromitrium helmsii near the Brooklyn wind turbine.

Fabulous Photos

Freaky finds

Leon Perrie recorded this ‘zombie fungus’ in the Wellington Botanic Garden. In a real‑life horror story, spores of the fungus have infected this moth and consumed its internal tissues. The fungus doesn’t kill the moth immediately; instead, it manipulates its behaviour, urging it to climb so the spores can be released from a better position for dispersal. The moth then dies, and reproductive structures burst out of its body (as seen in the photo below), and the fungal spores are released, ready to land on and infect the next unwitting victim.

Christopher Stephens recorded the only virus in Wellington’s observations this year – Invertebrate iridescent virus 31. This virus infects slaters/woodlice turning them a striking iridescent blue or bluish-purple colour.

Thank you to everyone who made observations and the enthusiasts who identified them. Congratulations to Christchurch, which had the highest number of observations and observers out of the New Zealand cities and Wellington, which recorded the most species. Also, to Dunedin who just pipped Auckland and Taranaki for number of species and to Waikato and Queenstown, who joined the Challenge for the first time. See the final results on iNaturalist.