#new zealand insect

[drhoz]

#2564 - Microvelia macgregori

A species of Riffle Bug endemic to Aotearoa - like the species I've found here in Australia before, tiny carnivorous bugs that live on the surface of the water and converge to devour any other insects unfortunate enough to fall in. M. macgregori is the only Veliid found in New Zealand, and comes in winged and wingless forms - the former Is most common on upland tarns.

These ones were living in a tiny stagnant pond where a stream was running into Lake Rotoiti.

St Arnaud, Southern Alps, New Zealand.

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

The Giant Wood Moth: these rat-sized moths have a wingspan of up to 23cm (about 10 inches) and can weigh as much as 30 grams, making them the heaviest moths in the world

This species (Endoxyla cinereus) is found only in Australia and New Zealand. It has a larval stage that can last 2-3 years, and the larvae spend most of that time eating and tunneling into the wood of eucalyptus trees. Once they are finally ready to pupate, they transform their tunnel into a pupation chamber, and they eventually emerge from the chamber as adult moths.

Above: the enormous pupa of a giant wood moth

The adult moths can only survive for a few days after that; like many other lepidopterans, the adults of this species are incapable of feeding, because they do not have any functional mouthparts, so their lifespan is extremely brief. They spend their entire adult lives (which last only a matter of days) searching for a mate and reproducing. In order to accomplish that goal, they must rely on the energy afforded by the fat reserves that they accumulated when they were larvae.

Above: the adult moths

Giant wood moths display a significant degree of sexual dimorphism, as the females are roughly twice the size of the males; they can weigh up to 30 grams, which makes this the heaviest moth species in the world.

In fact, the females are so heavy that they can barely even fly. In order to find a mate, they must crawl to the top of a tree trunk or fence post, release their pheromones, and then simply wait for the males to find them.

Sources & More Info:

Australian Museum: The Giant Wood Moth

Austral Ecology: Life History, Ecology and Ethnoentomology of the Giant Wood Moth

Australian Geographic: Giant Wood Moth

Moth Identification Guide: Endoxyla cinereus

The Guardian: Giant Wood Moth: 'very heavy’ insect rarely seen by humans spotted at Australian school

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

i request the wonderful giant wētā !!

I love them!

[pangeen]

" Bees in slow motion " //© Aimee

Music: 90sFlav - Call me

[mindblowingscience]

New Zealand's native stoneflies have changed color in response to human-driven environmental changes, new research shows. Just published in the journal Science, the University of Otago study provides arguably the world's most clear-cut case of animal evolution in response to change made by humans. Co-author Professor Jon Waters, of the Department of Zoology, says the stonefly has become a different color due to recent deforestation.

Continue Reading.

[herpsandbirds]

Little Barrier Giant Weta aka Wetapunga (Deinacrida heteracantha), family Anostostomatidae, Tiritiri Matangi Island, New Zealand

photograph by Dinobass 

[crabussy]

are you a moth enjoyer?

YES. very much so I love those freaky beasts

as a kiwi I'm biased but one of my favourites has to be the pūriri moth!! they're endemic to Te Ika-a-Māui, Aotearoa, and they're gorgeous and the greenest things ever

the larvae live for roughly 6 years before metamorphosing, and spend most of their time burrowing in trees such as the pūriri tree. I got to see a mature pūriri tree when I visited the bird sanctuary island tiritiri matangi in december and it had so many pockmarks from pūriri moth grubs!! super cool to see [: love these beasts

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Aptly named, the New Zealand giraffe weevil is the longest beetle in Aotearoa. Males can reach a length of 90 mm (3.5 in), half of which is their elongated snout. These extraordinary appendages are used to battle for access to females, which have much shorter snouts.

(Image: A mating male (top) and female (bottom) New Zealand giraffe weevil () by Christina Painting)

If you like what I do, consider leaving a tip or buying me a ko-fi!  

[airyairyaucontraire]

A fascinating article about New Zealand’s amber fossil record, now thought to be the longest continuous one in the world.

Unfortunately, it is not suitable for dinosaur cloning purposes.

[drhoz]

#2546-2548 - Sooty Beech Scale, Sooty Beech Mold, and the Common European Yellowjacket

One of the features of the Antarctic Beech forests of New Zealand, particularly on the South Island, is the thick layer of what looks like black moss covering many of the trees. And the ground. And most of the plants in the understory.

The black moss is actually sooty mold, a complex combination of fungi from a variety of different Orders, thriving on the ludicrous amounts of honeydew pumped out by the Sooty Beech Scale Ultracoelostoma assimile. The white filaments sticking out of the mold in the first photo is the anal tube of the scale insects, the longest such tube of any insect. The insect is most abundant on Black Beech Nothofagus solandri (the black in the name is from the mold) and middle-aged trees may lose 80% of the sugars they make to them. Younger trees have smooth bark that doesn't offer safe nooks and crannies for the crawlers, and in mature trees the bark is too thick for the scale insects to drill through.

The honeydew is a keystone feature of the Nothofagus forests - birds, bats, reptiles and insects all feed on the honeydew. Some rely on it. There's at least two species of caterpillar that prey on the scale insects. And a beetle - the only one in its family - that feeds only on the sooty mold.

And then the wasps arrived.

Two species are the problem - Vespula vulgaris (see photo) and Vespula germanica. Both are now more common in the Nothofagus forests then they are anywhere else in the world, and by a horrifying degree. Not only are they getting a diet of pure rocket fuel for much of the year, they then denude the forest of invertebrate life to feed their larvae. By monopolising the honeydew supply they're starving the birds and other animals that need that food supply, especially since introduced mice, rats, and stoats are eating the fruit and seeds of the forest, or turning on the birds when they run out of mice.

St. Arnaud, Southern Alps, New Zealand

[layaart]

north and south island lichen moths of aotearoa. wood pins available now, link in pinned!

[typhlonectes]

Chalcid Wasp (genus Pseudoceraphron), wingless female, Kaeo, New Zealand

I couldn't find much info on the wasps in this genus, but they tend to be very tiny. Many of the species in this family (Chalcidae) are parasitoids or hyperparasitoids.

photograph by flossiepip | inaturalist

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

This animal was requested!

[pangeen]

" The Beautiful Bees 🐝 " //© Aimee

Music: © nationaltropic - Lovely

[violetsandshrikes]

New Zealand Giraffe Weevil (Lasiorhynchus barbicornis) by bugman-nz