education kit - Auckland Museum

Auckland Museum
INSECTS
e ducation k it
Te Papa Whakahiku
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
YEARS 1 TO 9
©Auckland Museum 2003
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
contents
Insects
page
About this Resource & Booking Information
Map and Introduction
1
2
Teacher Background
Gondwana Insects
3
4
Alpine Zone
Caves / Bush
6
7
Freshwater
Introduced Insects and Pastures
9
10
Sandy Exposed Beaches
Insects Specialties
12
13
Maori Natural History
Fact Sheets
16
17
Curriculum Links
Learning Activities
22
24
Classroom Activity Sheets
Gallery Activity Sheets
28
37
ABOUT THIS RESOURCE:
This resource has been designed to meet
the needs of Science, Social Studies and
Biology classes, Years 1-9.
BOOKING INFORMATION:
All school visits to the museum must be booked.
We advise booking 2-3 months in advance.
Booking:
Contact the Museum School Bookings Officer at:
Private Bag 92018 Auckland
Phone: (09) 306 7040
Fax: (09) 306 7075
Numbers:
40 maximum per session (including adults)
Adult/student ratio:
Y 1-4
1:6
Y 5-6
1:7
Y 7-8
1:10
Y 9-13
1:30
Adult/child interaction is important to maximise your
museum experience. Group leaders need to have
some background knowledge of what the students
are expected to cover and they are advised to
participate in the introduction on arrival.
1
Introductions and Hands-on Sessions (facilitated
by Education Staff) are available. Please ask the
School Bookings Officer for more information
and costs.
www.aucklandmuseum.com
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
introduction
TGondwanan
his resource traces the insect history of New Zealand from its
origins to its present day nightmare of accidental
Insects
interlopers. The content follows the layout of Auckland
Museum’s Natural History galleries: from its beginning in
Gondwana through habitats from the mountains down to the
oceans. The gallery display ends with a glimpse of the human
impacts on our native flora and fauna.
FIRST FLOOR
TREASURES
& TALES
Discovery
Centre
WEIRD & WONDERFUL
Discovery Centre
LAND
LOGAN CAMPBELL GALLERY
ORIGINS
EAST
GALLERY
MAORI NATURAL
HISTORY
(Te Ao Turoa)
WEST
GALLERY
OCEANS
HUMAN
IMPACTS
and DNA
MATAPUNA
Natural
History
Resource
Centre
MEZZANINE GALLERY
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
teacher background
BUGS AND CREEPY CRAWLIES
I
nsects and other small animals have both fascinated and repelled
humanity throughout recorded history and undoubtedly long before
that. They are fascinating because of their endless variety, brilliant
colours and intriguing shapes. They produce silk, waxes, dyes and
honey and pollinate many of our crops. At the same time their strongly antisocial habits of stinging and biting, infesting food crops and
stores, and spreading some of the worst plagues imaginable, are repellent. They are everywhere; the most successful and numerous organisms
on earth. Virtually any statistic concerning insects defies belief. It has
been estimated that virtually any square kilometer may house some 10
billion individuals. The weight of insects eaten by spiders per year is
greater than the entire weight of the human population on earth. For
every living person on earth there are an estimated 200 million insects.
Surveys of tropical forests suggest that there may be as many as 25
to 30 million arthropod species in the world. The majority of these are,
as yet, unknown to science.
In the face of these bewildering statistics most of the scientific effort,
until the last half of the 20th century, has concentrated on the descriptive. More recent ecological investigations have shown them to be a
vital part of the survival of our planet. They dispose of all manner of
dead things thus returning vast amounts of nutrients to the soil. As pollinators insects play a crucial role in the cycle of plant generations. In
the immensely complex and interlinked ecology of our planet insects
are the keystones of the whole structure. An example of such amazing
complexity comes from the Amazonian rainforest. One particular
orchid requires the pollination efforts of one species of bee specially
adapted to access this one kind of flower. Bizarrely, only the male bee
fulfils this role. It visits the flower, not to collect pollen for food but to
gather the orchid's aromatic fragrances. In the process the flower's
sticky pollen bundles attach to the bee's body. The male stores the aromatic compounds in special organs on its back legs where they are
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Auckland Museum
the origins gallery
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
altered slightly. The compounds are thought to play some role in
courtship and mating but exactly how is not clear. They may possibly
be used as a pheromone to reassure the female that this male is of
the right species and thus make her receptive to mating. Female bees
are never attracted to this orchid’s flowers and orchid scents; instead
they are important pollinators of forests trees, most especially the
economically significant Brazil nut. The Brazil nut tree is not cultivated and only grows in the wild. Thus the sex lives of bees, trees and
orchids are irrevocably linked and interconnected with the economic
life of humans. Today there is a growing realization that our own survival as a species may well depend on the insights and understandings of the diversity and interdependence of all living things and the
need for their conservation.
GONDWANA INSECTS AND MINIBEASTS
New Zealand is often referred to as an excellent
example of 'evolution in action'. It was perhaps
best summed up by U.S. ecologist Jared Diamond
who said “New Zealand is as close as we will get
to the opportunity to study life on another planet”. It is a very important example of an isolated
archipelago. While there are other examples of
similar oceanic islands (e.g. Hawaii, New
Caledonia, Madagascar), New Zealand is the
largest, most isolated and has had dry land for
at least 100 million years.
New Zealand has endured many cataclysmic
changes since it separated from its mother continent Gondwana 80 million years ago. The fossil
record is therefore far from complete. However
we can still glimpse the past by looking at the
present inhabitants and their family links. Despite
the passage of 80 million years, modern descendants of ancient Gondwanan animals live on in
many groups including insects, earthworms, frogs,
lizards and tuatara. These animals all belong to
groups which cannot traverse wide stretches of
ocean. For example the extinct New Zealand
moa has close relatives which exist on other remnants of Gondwana. Over 25 species of peripatus are native to New Zealand and of the 150
species found worldwide most come from the
Peripatus
Peripatus novaezelandiae
Southern hemisphere. The Ghostmoth or Puriri
moth, Peepe Tuna has family in South America,
South Africa and Australia. Our Common Copper
butterfly, Pepe Parariki, has an extended
Gondwanan family.
Common copper butterfly
Pepe parariki
Unlike our retiring little coastal flier, some of its
tropical relations have an interesting arrangement with ants, where the butterfly larvae living
in ants nests ooze a sweetish substance as a bribe
for their rather antisocial behaviour (The butterfly caterpillars prey on ant larvae).
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Insects
New Zealand's cool windy climate (especially
during the Pleistocene glaciation) and an
absence of mammalian predators have resulted
in loss of flight and an increase in size in many
insects. Some beetles became large and flightless
and restricted to living on a single plant species,
e.g. the flax weevil.
Giant weta are the largest insect in New Zealand
Male Giant Dragonfly
and can weigh 40-50 grams, about the same
Uropetala carovei
weight as a thrush. The giant weta has changed
little from its ancestors which evolved during the
The Peripatus Ngaokeoke are linked to 550 milMesozoic era (235-65 million yrs ago).
lion year-old fossils of similar creatures. During
Weta fossils dating back 190 million years have the Carboniferous, 300 million years ago, insects
similar to dragonflies flew through the luxuriant
been found in Queensland, Australia.
northern coal measure swamps. Some had
wingspans up to 75cm. This order is now extinct
but by the Permian era, between 280 and 235
million years ago, dragonflies not very different
from modern ones had already become established. A New Zealand example is our own Giant
Bush Dragonfly, kapokapowai. Dragonflies very
similar to this first appeared in the Jurassic Period
and have changed very little since. The family
they belong to are notoriously poor at long distance dispersal across oceans, unlike other dragonfly families which fly well. This indicated that
our Giant Bush dragonfly came with the land
when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana.
Libellula doris
Well preserved insect fossils such as this 1.6cm specimen
from Italy, (approx. 20 million years old) have shown that
many insect groups have changed little over millions of
years.
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Auckland Museum
the land gallery
New Zealand's insect and minibeast diversity can
be explored by taking a topographical journey
from the alpine zone to the coastal wetlands.
Insects and other small creepy crawlies show special adaptations to various degrees of environmental pressure and the special demands the
environment imposes.
MOUNTAINOUS ALPINE ZONE
New Zealand's position on the 'Pacific Ring of
Fire', a zone of earthquake and volcanic activity,
makes this one of the world's most active mountain
building regions. The alpine zone is rich in biological diversity, despite alternating conditions of
intense cold, heat, wind and dryness. Weta are
the largest alpine insects. Of the 4 alpine weta
species only the smallest, Hemideina maori, can
survive being completely frozen.
Both moths and butterflies here are adapted to
nectar feeding and their evolution has gone
hand-in-hand with the development of flowering
plants. One especially well adapted to harsh
mountain conditions is the Black Mountain Ringlet
butterfly, Percnodaimon merula ( in some references known by its old name P. pluto).
Black Mountain Ringlet
Percnodaimon merula
Its dark colour absorbs every available bit of
warmth. It is covered in thick hair for insulation.
On sunny days it sunbathes with open wings,
unlike most butterflies whose characteristic resting
pose is with closed wings. On cool days it folds its
wings. It also makes use of the heat retaining
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
properties of rock to assist in hatching its eggs.
Unlike all other butterflies, which lay eggs on
vegetation, this unique specimen lays onto the
warm rock. After eating its eggshell the tiny
hatchling needs to crawl off in search of a suitable plant.
Moths are well represented in this environment.
Some moths fly during the day to take advantage of the warmer conditions. They can be
brightly coloured and patterned but many are
small and inconspicuous, flying low down to avoid
the high winds. Cicadas are another group of
insects common in the alpine environment. They
belong to the genus Maoricicada.
Mountain Grasshopper
Paprides nitidus
Almost all New Zealand short-horned grasshoppers
are found in this habitat. 11 out of 15 native
grasshopper species are alpine. They are small
insects whose grayish and greenish-brown colouring
blends in well with rocky and tussocky conditions.
The females have no wings while the males' wings
are rudimentary. Weevils are widespread and dull
coloured but can be much larger than their lowland
cousins. One species, the Speargrass Weevil, can
grow to a size of 3 cm long. This group of beetles,
the weevils, is the most
successful of all insects
with over 40,000
species throughout the
world. There are well
over 1,000 species in
New Zealand alone!
They are often called
snout beetles because
of their prominent
snout. In the alpine
zone they are food for
keas, whose sturdy
beaks can easily crack
the weevils' hard coat.
Speargrass weevil
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
Various spiders too have become
pensate for its loss of sight. The
expert at the cold, high and windy life.
harvestman, often confused with a
One especially adept and intelligent
spider, is a predator foraging on the
group are jumping spiders, that stalk and
floor of the cave preying on adult
leap on unwary prey with fangs unfurled.
glowworms. This particular one is a comPrey includes other spiders, quite a risky
mon European species. It has stink glands,
life! Experiments have shown that the
not poison glands, and cannot make silk.
skills to catch other spiders by surprise are not instinctive but carefulThe glowworm, larva of New
ly calculated for each new foe
Zealand's most famous fly, casts a
encountered. In winter it spins itself
luminous glow attracting small
a silken cocoon to retreat under the
insects. The insects become
snow and uses its sharp eyesight for
trapped in sticky threads hanging
daytime hunting. Another daytime
like fishing lines from the top of
Cave
weta
hunter is the Wolf spider. The
the cave. Once the victim is
Weta taipo
female drags her egg sac with her
trapped, the glowworm pulls in
Gymnoplectron
for a month until the spiderlings
the line and consumes its catch.
acanthocera
hatch. The babies then clamber
Emerging from a pupa into brief
onto her back and ride along until
adulthood, the female continues to
large enough for independence (about a week). emit a light, which attracts a mate.
The mother does not feed them and, should they
fall off, takes no notice, even going so far as to There are thought to be 60 different species of
knock them off purposely should they stray into cave weta, characterized by long antennae, long
her eyes.
legs and non-aggression. Unlike other weta, they
neither make sounds with their legs nor can they
CAVES
hear. During the day they scavenge dead animals
The most common type of cave in New Zealand is on the floor of the cave, at night they venture out
the limestone cave. Other types which exist in to forage on plants
New Zealand are marble, lava, sandstone and and fungi.
igneous rock caves. Specialised organisms that
are found in caves include the cave beetle which
has long antennae and long sensory hairs to com- Glow worm adult
Harvestman
Megalopsalis
Puratoke
Arachnocampa luminosa
BUSH AND FRINGES
To the casual visitor the forest may appear to be
a rather quiet, restful place but this first impression belies the frenetic activity taking place in
every nook and cranny. The forest is populated
top to bottom, from the canopy to the forest floor
and below with a vast array of insects and
minibeasts. By far the greatest bulk of life in a
native forest consists of invertebrates of every
description. The thick leaf litter with its wealth of
decaying vegetation provides a rich source of
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Insects
feeding opportunities for the recyclers, the
munchers, hunters and those that scavenge the
remains of both. Throughout the year newly
dropped plant material covers the existing rotting layer anew. Below this layer is an oasis of
moist darkness where temperatures remain
almost constant. This is ideal for those that dry out
easily. The most obvious are hoppers that feed on
rotting vegetation and are related to the wellknown sand hoppers of our beaches.
New Zealand has a great variety of native millipedes, herbivores and detritovores that also are
prone to desiccation, as they have no waterproof
cuticle. Some are around 10cm long but many are
tiny like the tufted millipede that is only about
3mm long. Picking up a millipede can leave a red
Common native millipede
Werimano
Spirobolellus antipodarus
Many insect larvae spend the first stage of their
lifecycles in the leaf litter and provide excellent
meals for the hunters of the dark. Maggots of
various kinds consume rotting plant matter while
the cicada nymph burrows into the ground to
access plant roots for nutrients.
Puriri Moth
Peepe Tuna
Aenetus virescens
One of the largest moths, the lovely green Puriri
or ghost moth, common in huge numbers at the
time of early European settlement, lives its early
larval stage in rotting wood on the forest floor.
After a year or so it moves to more suitable
accommodation in a larger puriri, titoki, marbleleaf (Putaputaweta) or wineberry tree where it
excavates a 7-shaped tunnel. It feeds on bark
and tissue around the tunnel entrance as it
extends its home, and constructs a beautifully
camouflaged trapdoor out of wood chips and silk
to hide the tunnel entrance. Several more years
pass before it pupates and emerges as an adult
with a 15cm wingspan. Now all is aimed at
reproduction. The adult moths cannot eat and will
die soon after mating and producing 2000 eggs.
or yellow stain on the fingers. This results from a
chemical which is exuded to discourage predators. New Zealand Robins have been seen to pick
up millipedes, brushing them through their feathers to hamper parasites. Centipedes, requiring
damp conditions, actively hunt using poisoned
claws behind their heads. They can grow up to 25
cm long and are the stuff that nightmares are
made of, looking ferocious and able to give a New Zealand has a variety of beetle larvae that
nasty nip when cornered.
consume rotting wood, while the many species of
longhorn beetles commonly bore into living wood.
They backfill their long tunnels with frass (dropCommon centipede
Weri
Cormocephalus rubriceps
Huhu beetle
Tunga rere
Prionoplus reticularis
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Auckland Museum
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Insects
pings to the uninitiated). The large
Huhu, which reaches up to 5cm as
an adult beetle, spends 2 to 3 years
as a grub travelling through the
dead wood. It was a welcome food
item for Maori. The trick was to wait
until the grub had finished feeding
just before pupating, so that its gut
would be empty of sawdust! As an
adult it does not eat and lives for
about two weeks only. The most
peculiar looking beetle with wood
boring larvae is the Giraffe
Weevil, Tuwhaipapa. It is a weevil with half the length of its body
taken up by its snout. The larger
male has feelers at the tip of its
snout, while the smaller female's
feelers are set further back closer
to her eyes as she needs her
mouthparts unimpeded to bore
holes for laying her eggs.
This mysterious damage is
caused by the superbly camouflaged Kawakawa looper moth
caterpillar Cleora scriptaria.
Others bunch leaves together to create
a safety pouch where they can eat
undisturbed and, for even greater protection, some tiny moth caterpillars mine
between top and bottom surfaces of
leaves. The Kowhai leaf miner, Stigmella
sophorae, is one of the world's smallest moths with a wingspan of just
2.5- 3.5 mm. Its wings beat so
fast as to be almost invisible. It
spends the first part of its lifecycle
in just one of the tiny Kowhai leaflets.
Wetas browse at night on mahoe and
lacebark leaves. Smooth and spiny
Giraffe
stick insects are other flightless natives
weevil
Tuwhaipapa
which enjoy manuka and kanuka
Lasiorhynchus barbicornis
foliage in the obscurity of the night.
The strangest animal encountered
New Zealand is short on pollinating
on the forest floor is the immensely ancient insects, however a lot of pollination is done by
Peripatus or velvet worm. Thought to be the evo- flies, beetles, moths and thrips. Even our native
lutionary link between worms and centipedes, it bees are not as magnificently organized for
traps its prey by squirting sticky slime from large-scale flower visiting as the introduced honglands by its mouth. Of the 25 species found so eybees from overseas. They are small, dark, solifar in New Zealand most bear tiny live young.
tary creatures that dig a nest hole in sunny,
exposed clay banks. Here they lay eggs and
Little can be seen of the many plant eaters and suck- leave the potential offspring with a little cache of
ers found throughout the under story and canopy, pollen and nectar to fend for themselves.
but their evidence is all around. Many caterpillars
leave conspicuous holes in leaves. It is a challenge to FRESH WATER ENVIRONMENTS
find any Kawakawa leaf that is undamaged.
Wetlands form at the indistinct and ever-changing boundary between water and land, covering
a number of often quite separate habitats e.g.
bogs, swamps, marshes and peatlands. Wetlands
are among the most threatened habitats in the
world; in New Zealand ninety per cent have been
destroyed since the arrival of humans. Although
insects are usually air breathing and winged, several orders have taken advantage of yet another habitat option and become predominantly
aquatic. The adults must still emerge from the
Cleora scriptaria
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
Some insects have adapted completely to life in
the water. The main problem to be solved is respiration. Some, like the backswimmer, capture a
bubble of air on their hairy abdomen. Others use
a specialized siphon to replenish their air supply.
Mayfly
Piriwai
Zephlebia dentate
water but often their gilled
larval stages live in or near
fresh water. As with their
land-based relatives the habitat sustains herbivores, carnivores and scavengers. One of the most common
insects near fresh water streams is the Mayfly.
After close to three years as a larva the emerging adult has only rudimentary mouthparts and
can't feed. All its efforts go into breeding. Clouds
of males swarm above the water performing
striking aerial dances to attract a mate. Soon its
short air breathing life is over. Some Caddisflies
protect their vulnerable larval body by constructing a case to hide in. Some are beautifully crafted from small sand grains, pebbles or shell fragments and provide perfect camouflage. Other
larvae hide in the mud or under stones. Hunters,
like the Dobsonfly larva, sometimes called the
toebiter, rely on stealth and lurk under stones until
darkness falls. The beauty and grace of the
dragonfly hide some gruesome habits. As an
adult it is one of the fastest flyers around catching its prey on the wing. It can eat as many as 20
houseflies in an hour. As a most unattractive
nymph it lies in waiting in its muddy tunnel
entrance by the pond edge ready to lunge at
unsuspecting prey.
Back swimmer
Hoe tuara
Anisops wakefieldi
Nursery web spider
Dolomedes minor
The nursery-web spider is common around swamps and bush
edges. It is a close relative of water
spiders. Its web, enclosing a tuft of vegetation, protects the young spiders. The cabbage
tree moth is perfectly camouflaged against the
leaves of cabbage trees. Its caterpillars chew
young leaves leaving distinctively notched edges.
Cabbage tree moth
Epiphryne verriculata
INTRODUCED INVERTEBRATES AND PASTURE
HABITATS
About 2,000 species of introduced invertebrates
are now established. Most of these small animals
of farm, home and garden were accidentally
introduced as stowaways in the plants, soils and
cargo the human colonists brought and still bring.
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
White butterfly
Pieris rapae
Codling moth
Cydia pomonella
Gum emperor moth
Antheraea eucalypti
A few species have penetrated native forest with
devastating effects on native insects and birds.
Most are restricted to modified habitats. The
worst of these are the Germasn and common
wasps and the Argentine ant, and aggressive
competitor with native ants. Some common introduced moths and butterflies include the gum
emperor moth, white butterfly and codling moth.
The impact of these organisms on native flora
and fauna is unknown at this stage. Introduced
Passionvine hopper
Scolypopa australis
11
bees and wasps include the honeybee Apis melifera,
which pollinates several native plants.
Bumblebees also pollinate some native plants.
Five species of stinging wasps have been accidentally introduced. The Common and German
wasps are the most serious, invading native forest
and competing with native birds for honeydew
and insects. Twenty-nine of the thirty-eight
species of ants in New Zealand were introduced
through human activity and others are regularly
intercepted at ports and airports. Many are
household pests. A few species have adapted to
native forest and bush habitats. The passionvine
hopper feeds on several native plants, particularly in open bush and at the bush edge. The
nymphs are those irritating little hopping 'fluffybums'. Its effects can be easily seen on small
branches and twigs where the adult female has
laid her eggs. She pushes her ovipositor into soft
plant stems leaving scarred serrations behind. Its
sucking habits have been implicated as a likely
contributor to the dramatic decline of the
Cabbage tree.
The springbok mantis Miomantis caffra, is a voracious predator of all insects. It often survives the
winter giving it an advantage over our native
species. It is displacing the New Zealand praying
mantis in urban environments of northern New
Zealand and is still spreading. The egg cases are
distinctly different from our native's neat brown
case. Look for a beige coloured dollop that looks
like glue squeezings attached to handrails and
fences.
Not all native creatures were disadvantaged by
habitat loss. The New Zealand grassgrub beetle
was able to expand its range enormously. This
shiny brown 1cm long beetle often swarms at
dusk. As a leaf-eating adult it causes damage to
crops and fruit trees, but as a grub it eats the
grass plant roots. In improved fields it can be
seriously destructive.
To control aphids, the 11 spotted ladybird was
introduced from England in 1874. This was the
first documented case of biological control in the
world.
Auckland Museum
the oceans gallery
SANDY EXPOSED BEACHES AND DUNES
From the strand line to
the dunes, a sandy
beach is no place to
live unless you happen
to be one of a select
cluster of insects, spiders and their relatives,
who have adapted to
the harsh conditions.
Here
temperatures
Tiger Beetle
vary
between
Neocicindela tuberculata
extremes. Wind and
salt spray suck away
the moisture, the sand
shifts and tears. The
strand line is a transient
environment. Seaweed
and carrion provide
food for a specialized
group of invertebrates,
Sandhopper
Corophium
which speed up its
acutum
decomposition. Other
invertebrates, shore
birds and lizards eat
them in turn. The tiger
beetle is a predator of
small insects and is well
camouflaged on greyish-white sand dunes.
Sand Scarab
Pericoptus truncatus
Katipo
Latrodectus katipo
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
beach. Kelp flies lay
eggs in freshly stranded
kelp. Their maggots
thrive in the kelp and
help to break it down.
Woodborers are both
destructive and useful.
Destructive in that they
can cause extensive
damage to the wood of
boats and wharves, useful because they break
down deadwood that
has drifted out to sea.
Our oceans would be
full of wood if not for
these important recyclers. They do their boring while adrift at sea.
The only clue we find on
land is driftwood, riddled with holes, cast onto
our beaches.
Earwig
Anisolabis libboria
Black Hunter Wasp
The black spider-hunter Pricocnemis nitidiventris
wasp stings and paralyses small Wolf spiders,
then takes them to its
nest in the sand. An egg
is laid on the body, which
The sand scarab is a is later consumed by the
bulky beetle which developing wasp larva.
leaves
conspicuous
tracks in the sand from The native bee burrows
Native Bee
its nocturnal wander- through the loose, hot,
Leioproctus metallicus
ings. During the day it dry sand above high
burrows deep in the water to nest in the
sand. The plump larvae damp sand beneath. The
can be found under Common Copper butterpartly buried logs. fly lives in the dunes
Sand hoppers are where its caterpillars
amphipod crustaceans feed on leaves of the
that spring up and tough pohuehue vine. At
down when you disturb most this butterfly lives Common Copper butterfly
Lycaena salustius
a piece of seaweed or for 10 days, so time is
wood lying on the limited for egg laying.
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
Katydid
Leaf grasshopper with
flexible leg joints
Light and flexible wings on a Cranefly
INSECT SPECIALITIES
Why are insects and the rest of the arthropods
so very successful? The answer lies in their skins.
Their hard exoskeleton contains chitin, a feature
which keeps moisture in and danger out. Chitin
is light, flexible and tough but it limits the size
of the creature.
The
hard
skin
must
be
shed when
the
body
grows too
large to fit
inside. The
outside surface is soft
for
some
time after
moulting. An
a n i m a l
beyond a
certain size would collapse under its own
weight before the new skin had had a chance
to harden. Consequently an exoskeleton would
seem to pose severe limitations and yet small
size has some advantages. The number of indi-
Piercing mouth parts on a beetle snout
13
viduals in a Overlapping
habitat can scales on a
butterfly
be much higher, the reproduction rate
faster
and
therefore the
evolutionary
advances
much
more
rapid. Their
size
allows
them to occupy a far
g r e a t e r
range of niches, much greater than for a large
animal.
All other adaptations found on insect bodies
stem from this hard cuticle. It is an extremely
versatile material. It can be thick and heavy for
strength or light and flexible for wings and
joints. It can be brightly coloured in a profusion
of shades and shapes for camouflage or warning. It can be shaped into a dazzling variety of
mouthparts, from the hard mandibles of predators to the strong piercing or flexible sucking
tubes of mosquitoes and butterflies. It provides
the means for making noise to attract or to
warn others. Chitin forms the protective egg
capsule and later it can even provide the first
hearty meal for the hatchling. Wings, formed
from light but durable chitin, have given even
greater advantage. They have meant that few
habitats are out of insect reach.
Warning colours on Toxic Oil Beetles
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
Venus Swift Moth
of South Africa
The ability to fly
evolved early in
the Carboniferous
Period 350-280
million years ago.
Success in flight
owes much to the
development
of
specialized muscle
which is able to
contract
much
faster than is normal for other muscle tissue- 1000
times a second in small flies.
Flight muscles are adapted to
optimum efficiency at temperatures of up to 40ºC and some
insects need to bask in the sun to
warm up pre-flight. Flightless
species are to be found in many
insect orders, and a few entire
orders have become flightless,
such as the fleas. Some, like ants
and termites, discard their wings
after mating, while in other
groups only males have wings. An Case Moth
example is the Case Moth, the Oeceticus
female of which spends her entire omnivorous
wingless lifespan in her case.
Insects do not necessarily have an easy life
despite the advantages of their skins. A host of
other animals and plants depend on them for
their own survival. As insects have no internal
Honeypot Ants, a special group in the nest, which act as
preserving jars, storing honey into the lean season
Shield bug nymphs around egg shells. Together they
resemble a poisonous caterpillar.
temperature regulatory mechanism they are
also at the mercy of the weather and, unless
specially adapted, may succumb to unseasonable conditions. The increasingly damaging
effects of human activity may be causing
unknown thousands of extinctions especially in
rainforest areas. Finally, like all living things
they are affected by disease and fungal infections. A most bizarre result of fungal infection is
the vegetable caterpillar. The caterpillar
of the Porina Moth,
which tunnels into the
soil, is slowly invaded
by fungal growth. The
maturing fungus kills
its host and produces
a spore-bearing stalk
which
eventually
pokes out of the tunnel. Maori collected
the woody, transformed caterpillars
by the hundreds and Vegetable caterpillar
burned them to provide
the black ash for body tattoo pigments.
Some insect interactions are beneficial to
humanity. Ladybird larvae and adults are a
gardener's best friend. They are ferocious
hunters of aphids, the scourge of the rose grower. Many wasps use insects as their brooding
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
mechanism. One of interest to gardeners is the
wasp, which lays eggs into the cabbage butterfly's caterpillar stage. As with many of these
types of parasites, the larvae eat the paralysed
host. By the time the parasite is ready to pupate
the food source is exhausted. The latest introductions of wasp defences to New Zealand were in
2001. Two tiny parasitic wasps were introduced
to combat minute, 1.25mm greenhouse thrips and
sooty mould producing mealy bugs. Rigorous
testing, research, quarantine procedures and
public hearings were conducted before the
release. The multimillion-dollar avocado and citrus export sector will benefit from these little
parasites although it is too soon to know whether
they are successfully established yet.
Insects have developed a host of defences to
counter surprise attack. They may kick, jump or
use rapid escape flight as plant hoppers do.
They may mimic dangerous relatives, plant
leaves, stems or flowers. The production of a
special toxic or irritant repellent is highly
effective.
The African Bombadier beetle, for example,
squirts two separate chemicals at its enemies.
The two inert chemicals combine in an explosive flash. This would be truly startling to any
predator. Less dramatic but also effective is
the Green Shield bug's habit of releasing a
repugnant scent to confuse its enemies, usually
innocent gardeners! Some use alarm
pheromones to warn closely gathered members to
Bombadier Beetle
d i s perse
rapid ly in
t h e
face
o
f
danger.
15
The fact that pheromones are also used to
attract a mate has provided apple orchardists
with some interesting defensive strategies.
They confuse the male Codling Moth with
overpowering female scent, totally disrupting
the breeding cycle. Some insects gain
defences from feeding on plants which are
toxic to most others. The toxins concentrate in
the tissues and are highly unpalatable. The
Monarch caterpillar uses this strategy, advertising its dangerous taste in boldly striped
colours. Some interesting relationships have
developed between different insect species,
especially with ants, which provide protection
in exchange for honeydew. Other insects too
are attracted to honeydew; a few beetles,
flies and geckos. In New Zealand native animals such as the kaka supplement their diet
with honeydew from beech tree scale insects.
This crucial link in the web of life in our beech
forests has been interrupted by the plague of
honeydew robbing German wasps.
FOOD AND FEEDING
Among insects the sucking habit is widely utilized. Some have piercing mouthparts to
access plant saps and others capture and suck
the contents from their victims. Butterflies and
bees suck nectar while others, such as fleas,
rely entirely on warm-blooded prey. These
'bloodsuckers' face the problem of their food
clotting and introduce an anti-coagulant into
their food-source before feeding. Those feeding on live prey may inject toxic saliva completely paralysing their struggling food.
Sponging is a method used by specialized
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
te ao turoa; maori natural history
Insects
I
n Maori folklore ngarara, insects and similar creatures are usually said to be the
children of Tane and of Punga, whose children are all ugly. Each had its own
character and significance in folklore. Ngaro, the flies, mosquitoes and sandflies
are connected with Whiro, the god of evil who was Tane Mahuta's older brother.
When Tane decided to climb to the heavens and gather the three baskets of knowledge (those of rituals, crafts and agriculture), his jealous older brother felt that it
was he as the elder who should have the honour of this task. As Tane climbed up the
vines Whiro sent plagues of flies and mosquitoes to sting and poison him. Luckily
Tane's other brother Tawhiri Matea (the god of the wind) blew the insects away.
Ancestral spirits sometimes assumed the forms of spiders when they visited earth,
while a man with hidden intentions might be likened to a spider in its web. The stick
insect was seen as related to the praying mantis, and if either of these alighted upon
a woman it was a sign she was pregnant. Ants were used as a weather warning.
Before bad weather ants go back into their nest. Thus fishermen were warned not to
put out to sea.
As is the case in many other cultures Maori society used insect habits to create teachable moral moments. One such moral is provided by the legend of the cicada and
the ant.
KIKIHI AND POPOKORUA
In the summer the New Zealand bush reverberates with the busy sounds of Kikihi the
cicada. As you listen to the drowsy, buzzing sounds, winter seems far away. In fact
that is what the cicada sings. "The winter is past and summer is here. Let us sing our
song on the warm bark of trees and be glad, for cold and darkness have gone
away for ever."
If, however, you listened very carefully you might hear another, softer song. This is
sung by those who work throughout the summer time, close to the ground. It is the
song of Popokorua, the ants. "Winter is coming" they sing as they busily scurry
about gathering food and carrying it underground for storage. "We need food to
keep us alive in the cold days of winter. Let us work to live." Winter comes. The cooling wind that blew softly in summer now shakes the leaves ferociously. Icy rain pelts
down on the saturated soil. Kikihi, grows thin and hungry and finally dies still clinging to the cold bark. Underground the ant family is snug and well fed, looking forward to the next fruitful summer.
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Insects
WETA
Giant Weta, Deinacrida heteracantha
FACT SHEET
droppings are the same size as mouse droppings.
Weta eat mostly plant material, but will scavenge on dead insects. Their habitats have been
destroyed by humans, and introduced animals, particularly rats have eaten them in masses. Giant
weta are now almost only found in places where
there are no rats.
Cave Weta (also known as Tokoriro). About 60
different species. They have antennae up to 4
times the length of their body with which they pick
up the vibrations, smells and tastes made by food
and predators. Most live near the entrance of
caves, in damp bush and forest. A few alpine
species live under stones in the mountains. They
are scavengers who also eat insects, fungi, leaves
and ferns and have extremely long legs which
they use to jump away from danger. They do not
have spines on the back legs and are not aggresGiant Weta (also known as Wetapunga) D.heter- sive. They don't have ears and don't make sounds
acantha is just one of several giant species. Giant and have close relatives in the other countries that
Weta are nocturnal like all weta and are a type were part of Gondwana, such as South Africa,
of flightless grasshopper which have been Australia and South America.
around since the dinosaur age. 'Deinacrida'
Cave Weta, Gymnoplectron acanthocera
means demon grasshopper. Females are larger
than males. Weta have ears on their front legs.
All make a loud 'tsit tsit' noise and have very
large spines on their back legs which they raise
over their head to threaten others. These weta
live on a few offshore islands and isolated pockets on the mainland. They vary in size according
to the species but are generally very large and
slow and are often called giants of the insect
world. The largest specimen ever recorded was a
gravid (egg carrying) female wetapunga (D. heteracantha) from Little Barrier Island. It weighed
about the same as a songthrush, although this
weight was unusual and has never been repeated. Some giant weta types do not have a 'home
hole' but wander from place to place. Like other
weta, they have a lifestyle similar to mice. They
are both nocturnal, eat the same sort of food and
even have smelly droppings like mice. Giant weta
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
WETA
Tree Weta, Hemideina thoracica
Tree Weta (known in Maori as Putangatanga).
Hemideina (6 species including the Auckland
Tree Weta). They are omnivores, eating
insects and plant material. Palps around the
jaws help them taste food before even taking
a bite. Wetas spend their days in holes in
trees or other places like posts. They enter the
hole headfirst and leave their spiny back legs
blocking the entrance. At night they turn
around. Males are aggressive with larger
heads than females. They will chase away
other males but let females into their territory. They threaten other animals by raising
their back legs and make rasping noises, scratching the hind legs against the abdomen. They have
ears and hollow tubes in their front legs to hear
with. Not all tree weta live in trees. The mountain
rock weta is a tree weta that doesn't live in trees.
It can be frozen and remain alive, which helps it
live in the mountains. This happens several times
every winter. Females have a long egg-layer, or
ovipositor. They lay eggs in the soil almost all
year, except mid-winter. A female can lay as
many as 300 eggs in her lifetime.
Ground Weta Hemiandrus (at least 36 species)
They are smaller types of weta which live in tunnels that they dig in the ground. They threaten
other animals by raising the front legs and opening the jaws but do not make a sound. They do
not have ears and eat mostly insects. Weta seem
to have an awful lot of enemies and not all of
them are introduced species. Native species such
as tuatara, short-tailed bats, birds such as morepork and kaka and most species of lizard are all
known to eat weta. Harrier hawks seem to be the
main predator of Poor Knights Island giant weta.
However the biggest threat to weta are rats.
FACT SHEET
New Zealand is home to three species of rat. The
Pacific rat, or kiore, was first introduced with the
arrival of Maori and is still present in large numbers on Little Barrier Island, home of our largest
giant weta. The two European rat species
(Norway and Ship rat), which are widespread
throughout the country, have the biggest impact
on weta numbers. The only truly successful method
of saving weta seems to be moving them to areas
where there are no predators. Often this means
offshore islands. Giant weta have been the
greatest benefactors of this method of conservation (called translocation). So far Mana Island
giant weta have been transferred to Maud Island
(in the Marlborough Sounds) and Somes Island in
the Wellington Harbour. Wetapunga now only
exist on Little Barrier Island (in the outer Hauraki
Gulf) after disappearing from both the mainland
and Great Barrier Island. Mercury Island tusked
weta have been bred in captivity and released
onto another island in the Mercury group.
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
GLOW WORMS AND DRAGONFLY
Arachnocampa luminosa
Glow-Worm
Puratoke, Arachnocampa luminosa is found along
the banks of streams and in other damp places in
the bush, as well as in caves. The larva is carnivorous. As soon as it is hatched, it begins to construct a tunnel of mucus and silk which it suspends
on silken ropes from the cave ceiling or from
another suitable support. It then spins a large
number of silken lines hanging down from the tunnel. At regular intervals along a line the larva
places little beadlets of sticky mucus. Midges and
other insects, attracted by the glow-worm's light,
rise up and get stuck on the beadlets. At once the
larva hauls up the line and eats the victim. Its lifecycle is about a year, and during this time it casts
a luminous glow. As it transforms from pupa to
adult fly, the glow-worm glows erratically.
Emerging into brief adulthood, the female continues to emit a light which attracts the male to
mate.
Large Dragonfly
Kapokapowai, Uropetala carovei. Dragonflies
have a very long, narrow abdomen, antennae
reduced to tiny threads, and two pairs of large,
veined, gauzy wings which glitter in sunlight. They
are predators, taking flying insects on the wing.
19
FACT SHEET
Their huge compound eyes, linked by nerves to
the flight muscles, enable them to locate even
very small prey and immediately to change
direction to capture it. The victim is scooped up by
the dragonfly's thin legs, which are armed with
spines, and taken to the mouth where it is masticated by the strongly toothed mouthparts.
Dragonflies and their relatives the damselflies
have teeth (hence their family name Odonata,
from the Greek for tooth). New Zealand has 11
species of dragonflies and six damselflies.
Dragonflies are larger and spread their wings
when they are resting, whereas damselflies fold
their wings loosely over their body. Dragonflies
have incomplete metamorphosis. The eggs hatch
into larvae or nymphs which live in fresh water.
Nymphs are voracious feeders, eating insects,
tadpoles and even small fish; in their turn they
are the target of predators such as frogs, birds
and trout. After a series of moults the larva
leaves the water, the larval skin splits and the
adult emerges. The best known native dragonfly
is the giant black and bright yellow 'devil's darning needle' Uropetala carovei. This large insect
has a wing span of 130mm and is found in boggy
seepage areas in forests. Dragonflies are the
fastest of all insects, capable of cruising at 40
km/hr and increasing their speed in bursts to 58
km/hr. They can also hover and make quick turns
up, down or sideways.
Large Dragonfly, Uropetala carovei
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
STICK INSECTS
FACT SHEET
Stick Insects, common Clitarchus hookeri and spiny
Common Smooth Stick Insect (male)
Argosarchus spiniger are known as Ro in Maori.
These are only 2 of the 21 species found in New
Zealand and of the 2500 worldwide. Their bodies are long and thin and coloured either bright
green or light brown. Although it is often assumed
that adults can change colour responding to the
background hue, this is not so. Some overseas
varieties have the ability to become lighter or
darker in response to light intensity. It is thought
this allows more or less heat to be absorbed.
Stick insects are found in tropical and subtropical
regions the world over. Many have wings but our
New Zealand varieties are flightless. They can
walk at about 1km/hr. Nowadays they are easy
prey for the invading wasps. Generally their diet
consists of a variety of leaves including those of
manuka, kanuka and pohutukawa. They browse
at night. During daylight their stance affords
them almost perfect camouflage especially as
they often stretch their front legs forward and
may sway slowly side to side looking even more
like a wind blown branch, but however good their camouflage, many birds eat them, particularly
kingfishers. When mating in the autumn the
markedly smaller male rides on the female's back
Spiny Stick Insect (female)
and may stay put up to two weeks even while the
female lays eggs. Some have been known to
reproduce parthenogenically, by hatching from
unfertilised eggs. The eggs usually resemble
plant seeds. The smooth bodied common stick
insects lays greyish brown eggs with a corrugated surface texture. She drops them on the ground
where they will hatch into nymphs after 2 or 3
months. The nymphs, a tiny version of the adults,
moult at least 4 times before maturity.
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
WASPS
Eudyptula minor
FACT SHEET
many insects in a summer season as do the native birds
in a year.
Asian wasp
Polistes chinensis
Common wasp
Vespula vulgaris
Australian wasp
Polistes tasmaniensis
humilis
German wasp
Vespula germanica
Wasps - German (Vespula germanica), Common
(Vespula vulgaris), Australian (Polistes humilis), Asian
(Polistes chinensis). German Wasps are found throughout the North and South Islands; Common Wasp
throughout the North and South Islands; Australian
Paper Wasp in the warmer parts of the North Island
and Asian Paper Wasp in the warmer north of the
North Island.
The four species have been accidentally introduced to
New Zealand (although it is likely the Australian paper
wasp may have arrived under its own steam). The
German Wasp arrived in the 1940s carried in aircraft
parts from Britain. The Common Wasp has been here
since 1978. The Australian Paper Wasp was introduced
in the 1880s. The Asian Paper Wasp is a recent arrival
but is now very common in Auckland.
New Zealand has some of the highest densities of common and German wasps in the whole world. Here they
have no natural enemies, our winters are mild and there
is plenty of food for them to eat. They eat nectar, insects
and some have been known to kill and eat baby birds.
Wasps compete with birds and insects for sugar from
nectar, causing native and other useful species to starve.
They eat honeydew, a sugary liquid excreted by scale
insects living under the tree’s bark. By eating the honeydew they have resulted in a drop in numbers of bellbird, tui and kaka, which rely on it as an energy source.
They have become established in beech and podocarp
forests. In some South Island forests they consume as
21
They are a major pest for the beekeeping industry, as
they rob the hives of honey. They are a nuisance to
forestry workers and Department of Conservation staff.
In fact Department of Conservation workers may carry
adrenalin with them (to administer in case they stumble
into a wasp nest) if working in beech forests known to
have high wasp numbers. Adrenalin helps the body combat the allergic reactions brought on by wasp stings.
Wasps do not store food the way bees store honey. In
their native habitat with much colder winters, the nests
die out in late autumn and winter. Only the queen survives, because she hibernates. Numbers peak from
February to April. The climate in New Zealand, being
much more benign, allows some nests to overwinter. In
the last few years, numbers have increased hugely in
the Auckland area. Wasps will start raiding fruit crops
and scavenging rubbish bins when insect numbers are
low. They have caused the death of a 7-year-old girl
and can cause allergic reactions in people when they
sting. They have even forced schools to close. Wasps
are not repelled by insect repellents. They really like
blue clothing though! The underground nests of the
Common and German Wasps can be removed at night
by pouring petrol into the entrances. The fumes of the
petrol kill the wasps. Do not light the petrol! The nests of
paper wasps are usually about 1-5 metres above the
ground. They can be killed by spraying lots of fly-spray
on the nest at night. This will kill the adults. The larvae
can be killed by freezing the nest for 3 days.
Australian Paper Wasps are reddish brown in colour
and are smaller than the Asian Paper Wasps.
Asian Paper Wasps are yellow and black with orangey
- tan legs, smaller than the German and Common
Wasps, but bigger than the Australian Paper Wasp.
Males are smaller and more yellow than the females.
DOC have produced a National Wasp Control Plan
under the Wildlife Act 1953. As part of that plan,
efforts are being made to control German and common wasps with an introduced parasitic wasp called
Sphecophaga vesparum burra. It invades their nests and
its larvae attack immature wasps in their cells.
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
curriculum links
Insects
This section is divided into the learning levels. Curriculum links are made but
may not be all-inclusive. The suggested learning activities will provide
opportunities to gain the minimum knowledge required by students before
visiting the Museum. These are sample indicators of the type of activity that
may be carried out according to the ability of their students.
LEVEL 1
LEVEL 3
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum
Making Sense of the Living World
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum
Making Sense of the Living World
Students:
1. share their experiences relating to the living
world, and group the living world according to
some of its attributes, e.g. insect legs, eyes, food
choices, body shape etc.
Students can:
1. distinguish between living things within broad
groups on the basis of differences established
by investigating external characteristics, e.g.
moths, butterflies, bees, flies and other
minibeasts.
2. observe and identify parts of common animals
and plants, e.g. major parts of the insect's body
3. investigate and describe the changes in a
particular insect over a period of time
4. accept responsibility for the needs of an
insect in captivity
2. investigate special features of common insects
and describe how these help them to stay alive
e.g. mimicry or camouflage.
4. explain, using information from personal
observation and library research, where and
how a range of familiar New Zealand plants
and animals live.
LEVEL 2
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum
Making Sense of Planet Earth and Beyond
LEVEL 4
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum
Making Sense of the Living World
Students can:
2. understand that Earth is very old and that
animals and plants in past times were very
different.
Students can:
1. investigate and classify closely related living
things on the basis of easily observed features, e.g.
beetles, ants, butterflies and other insect orders.
Making Sense of the Living World
2. investigate and describe special features of
animals or plants which help survival into the
next generation.
Students can:
1. use differences and similarities in external
characteristics to distinguish broad groups of
living things, e.g. mammals, frogs, fish, birds,
insects, spiders, worms, snails; flowering plants,
ferns, mosses.
4. use simple food chains to explain the feeding
relationships of familiar animals, and investigate
effects of human intervention on these relationships e.g. cabbage butterfly, cabbage.
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
LEVEL 5
Science in the New Zealand Curriculum
Making Sense of the Living World
Students can:
2. investigate and describe structural, physiological, and behavioural adaptations which ensure
the survival of animals and flowering plants in
their environment, e.g. the organ systems which
animals use to locate, catch (or harvest), eat,
digest, transport, and use food; territoriality;
social behaviour.
4. investigate and understand nutrient relationships between producers, consumers, and
decomposers.
LEVEL 6
Biology in the New Zealand Curriculum
Students can:
6.1 (a). investigate and compare the diversity
and organization of two different communities
6.3 (a). identify and explain effects of introduced plants and animals on New Zealand's
native flora and fauna, and methods for controlling their impact
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curriculum links
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
learning activities
LEVEL 1 & 2
Focus Questions:
· What is an insect?
· What makes a plant different from an insect?
· What evidence can we find that insects lived
long ago?
· What is a fossil?
· How do fossils begin?
Possible learning activities
LEVEL 1 & 2
. Make a collection of animal bones, leaf skeletons, insect exo-skeletons and shells.
. Play "Animal, Plant (vegetable) and Never
Alive (mineral)" with objects brought by children.
. Brainstorm how they know something is living.
Look for words like: moving, growing, eating,
having babies, breathing.
. Bury some items in a sandpit e.g. shells, insects,
leaves, seaweed, feathers. Stage a 'fossil' hunt
and try to work out what the habitat may have
been like to produce such fossils and discuss how
we know that the earth was once different.
. Cut out insect pictures and allow children to
classify these according to their characteristics.
e.g. all those with hopping legs, or those with
knobbly antennae.
· Read a legend or story about some insect characteristics. A legend about ants is included in this
resource.
. Create your own butterfly garden with help
from the school caretaker or parents. Some useful plants are verbena, cabbage, phlox, daisies,
marigolds, petunias etc. Predict what will happen first and then keep regular diaries over a
period of time.
. Visit a habitat within walking distance that can
be visited throughout the study. Collect and care
for finds such as caterpillars or a weta or stick
insect.
. Make a mural of a land habitat. Place the animals, and plants in the habitat. Discuss the adaptations that these organisms have to help them
survive.
. Make insect models of beetles, dragonflies or
Insects
cockroaches with Plasticine or clay. Press the
models into a container of fine, damp sand to
show one way a fossil can be made. Fill the
imprint with plaster of Paris, turn upside down
when set and carefully brush away the sand.
. Collect a variety of animal footprints and other
evidence of their passing, e.g. holes in leaves,
leaf miners, droppings. Display as a mystery
game, "Who Passed Here?" with label matching.
. Create insects using natural materials e.g.
Ginkgo leaves make great butterfly wings.
. Selecting a variety of boldly coloured busy
backgrounds, students design an insect that
would be well camouflaged against this.
. Learn "I know an old lady…" then make up
your own words to illustrate some insect behaviours. E.g. "I saw a praying mantis sitting ever so
still.." or "I saw a mosquito, it was trying to
hide…"
. Make a display of harmful and helpful insects
and an assortment of insect repellents and antiinsect devices. Try and design traps for specific
insects. Test and evaluate them. Do any specific
colours attract or repel? Design a method of
testing your theories.
LEVELS 3 & 4
Focus Questions:
. What are the characteristics of insects?
· What things lived in New Zealand a long time
ago?
· What is a fossil and how are they made?
· How do we group living things?
· What do insects have to help them survive?
· How do species become extinct or endangered?
· Where are some of the places that insects are
found?
· What are food chains?
Possible learning activities
LEVEL 3 & 4
· Discuss the term food chain. Together make up
a food chain based on a common insect. In
groups create another chain based on familiar
insects. Place each link on to a card, so that others can assemble the chain. Swap these 'chain
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Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
games' amongst the groups
· Construct food chains for specific habitats e.g.
alpine, cave, bush, wetlands, mangroves, rocky
shore, sandy shore, ocean. Start by making up
songs using the tune " I know an old lady who
swallowed....." to illustrate food chains.
· Following observations, sort pictures of insects
into different groups according to external characteristics. Groups could include where the
insects are found e.g. air, land and fresh water.
. Create your own insect mask, concentrating
heavily on the types of eyes, antennae and
mouthparts found on specific insect heads.
Perform a play for younger children.
· Group things by playing 'Animal, Plant (vegetable), Never Alive (mineral)? Identify which of
these could become a fossil.
· Make several different fossil rocks using plaster
of Paris mixed with a number of items e.g. insect
wings, grasshopper legs, bones, shell, leaves,
twigs. Children break open the fossil rock to discover the fossils. They can make up their own stories about how the item became a fossil.
· Make individual lists about: New Zealand
insects I know and which of these are endangered.
· Use a map of the local area. Identify and label
the different habitats e.g. fresh water, bush,
seashore. After discussion choose suitable habitats for insects and record predictions of what
the students expect to find there. Visit the habitat and identify insects, observe and record natural behaviours and note environmental impacts
of humans. Classify insects identified, according
to easily observable features and external characteristics. Discuss how each insect is suited to its
habitat. Compare insects found, to predictions.
Learn the skill of photography (especially good
with a digital camera to download onto computer and create a web-page)
. Have a bug catcher night-time safari. Create a
light-screen trap. Which coloured light is more
successful? Collate data and compare with
another school's/classes' findings.
· Design a new insect which is at home on the
fridge or kitchen wallpaper or dining room floor,
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learning activities
or even in a rubbish bin or sink waste master.
Consider external characteristics, catching or
gathering food, predators, environmental conditions and the effect that human activity has on
the insect. Give it a fun name and present in a
poster, model or perhaps a role-play.
· Write a legend about some insects e.g. 'How
the grasshopper got its long legs' (read the
Chinese legend about how the ant got its shape
on page 32)
· Make a mobile of some of New Zealand's special insects and hanging from their bases a short
'Did you know?' type label.
· As a class compile a list of insect adaptations
and their functions e.g. weta hind legs, insect
antennae, camouflage colours, sand scarab's
digging legs etc. Using common astrological star
signs and the related constellation shape as
examples, invent a horoscope and constellation
shape based on an insect. E.g. the sign of the
grasshopper which leaps to conclusions and can
be green with envy.
· Using accurate pictures of known insects create
card games for class, group or individual sorting,
according to criteria set by students. Add pictures of other animals and plants native to New
Zealand. Discuss external features and adaptations.
. Make a display of harmful and helpful insects.
Design a method to test and evaluate insect
repellents or insect traps. Select a common nuisance insect and invent a trap for it aimed
specifically at its behavioural or external features and adaptations.
· Construct a mural of one of the habitats represented in the Museum's Natural History galleries
which follow the headings in this resource, except
pasture insects which are not represented in our
Museum display). Include examples of the animals and plants found there, highlighting their
interactions.
LEVEL 5 & 6
Focus Questions:
· How do humans effect the New Zealand envi-
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
learning activities
ronment?
· Should the environment be protected?
· Living or nonliving?
· How can this native animal/plant survive here?
· Who eats who?
· How have some insects adapted to their biotic
and abiotic environments?
Possible Learning Activities
LEVEL 5 & 6
· Brainstorm a list of insects found in New
Zealand. Have the class divide the list into
native and introduced organisms. Each student
chooses an organism to research, and presents
this information in poster form. Posters can be
displayed as a mural
· Read a legend or story about how animals got
their special features: included in this resource is
a charming Chinese legend of how the ant got
its waist. Write a myth about a native insect,
perhaps how it got its name e.g. the very unusual Bat-winged Cannibal Fly (Exul singularis)
· Discuss the concept of food chains and energy
flow within an ecosystem with special regard to
the role of insect life.
· Make a food chain mobile based on the
dietary habits of a special native or introduced
insect. An interesting one may be based on the
beech scale insects both before and after the
German wasp invasion (Find out on the Internet).
· Collect a range of insect pictures. Review the
term 'classification' and ask students to group
the insects in any way they think suitable. They
need to record what information they used to
classify the insects in such a way e.g. size, colour,
locomotion mode etc.
· As a class select a native insect (it will need to
be one with easily recognizable adaptations
that students are familiar with). Talk about what
it needs to survive. Review the term 'adaptation'
and describe it as being something that a living
thing has or does to help it survive in its habitat
(where it lives). Brainstorm what helps this animal
survive in its particular habitat and how these
adaptations work.
Insects
· Brainstorm ideas about how pests have
changed life for people in New Zealand taking
special note of habitat changes. Investigate the
activities of the Acclimatization Society (now
called the Fish and Game Council). How did this
group contribute to the introduction of foreign
organisms? Students could write a letter to an
imaginary paper about how humans have
changed the New Zealand environment.
· Brainstorm intercontinental transport impacts
on the environment. Research the spread of
mosquito borne diseases such as West Nile virus
in America. Discuss a scenario where diseasebearing mosquitoes entered New Zealand, such
as nearly happened with the Australian salt
marsh mosquito. What would need to be done?
E.g. what is being done about the Varroa Bee
mite?
. Investigate the introduction of the South
African praying mantis and its effect on our
native species of mantis. Do a counting survey in
a garden looking for evidence, such as the distinctive egg cases of either species, to aid in
drawing conclusions.
· Design a native insect board game aimed at
primary school level e.g. 'Who am I', matching
adaptations to the animal.
· Carry out a fieldtrip around the school grounds
and in a nearby suitable area. Collect and log
the numbers and types of cicada nymph skins
found. This type of data can be built up over
several years. Included in this resource is an
excerpt of an article on cicadas by Dr. John
Early, the Auckland Museum's entomologist (see
page 27). Use the data to predict past vegetation patterns in your area.
· Divide the class into two groups. Each selects a
different ecosystem. e.g. freshwater swamp or a
sandy beach community. Identify the various living and nonliving components of it. Compare the
diversity and adaptations displayed by inhabitants of each community. Decide how to display
the group's findings.
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cicadas - little summer screamers
(links with learning activities level 5 & 6)
Article for Soil and Health: Our Insect Allies
Although it marks the beginning of warm
weather, at times the cicada chorus is simply
deafening. Many people soon tire of their
ceaseless daytime racket which usually lasts
until mid-late March at least.
The racket they make is all about sex. It's the
males who make the noise and fuss as they
try to attract a mate, while the females
remain silent. The song is very much a daytime activity and they usually cease as night
draws on, their harsh clamour being replaced
by the more gentle and melodious whistling
of crickets.
There are about 30 species of cicadas in
N.Z., all native, but the summer song comes
mainly from two of them which also happen
to be our largest cicadas. Males of the long
winged cicada, Amphisalta zealandica, congregate in large numbers and sing in unison
as though they are one gigantic super-male.
Males of the short winged cicada, Amphisalta
cingulata, are solitary, their sound often
drowned out by the others.
cicadas is their 'shells' left behind on tree
trunks. These are the old shed moult skins
from the nymphs which have just spent 3 - 6
years underground in the soil, sucking sap
from tree roots. When fully grown they crawl
up out of the ground at night, their skin
(exoskeleton) splits down the back, and the
adult cicada emerges. Under cover of darkness, their wings expand and their tender
skin hardens as dawn approaches.
Amphisalta zealandica has bright brown husks
but those of A. cingulata are pale. The interesting thing is that these two species have
slightly different habitat requirements, the
former being a cicada of the forest, the latter being more at home in scrub. But what is
more interesting is that the cicadas stay put
even though the forest or scrub may be
cleared through urban sprawl. The exclusive
occurrence of pallid cicada husks in my
Onehunga garden indicates the presence of
A. cingulata which tells me that this area was
scrub covered before urbanisation. It is also
fortunate because this species is solitary and
doesn't form deafening aggregations like A.
zealandica whose bright brown husks festoon
the tree trunks of the Auckland Domain, indicating that this part of the city was indeed
once covered by forest, and whose singing en
masse can make a lunchtime stroll almost
unbearable.
The sound is produced from a special organ
located in a cavity on each side of the first
segment of the abdomen. In addition to this
basic zizzzzzz component of the repertoire,
you can hear a series of clicks as the cicada
periodically bashes its wing against the twig
or branch on which it is perched. New
Zealand Amphisalta are the only cicadas in John Early, 22 March 2000
the world known to do this.
Of course, the other obvious thing about
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classroom activity sheet 1
Insects
LADYBIRDS
- Use the information in the article about ladybirds (following pages) to decide which months
of the year would be best to study this insect.
- Survey your own garden counting the number of lady birds in a small, well vegetated area
(e.g.1x1m, or select a plant type in the school garden, perhaps rose bushes or any plant heavily infested with aphids) Record on which plants the beetles were found. Were they all the
same colours? Search carefully for the larvae (see the photo included). In class collate, chart,
graph and compare your data with others. Were there any differences? What was different
about the garden environments? (Make sure you investigate the presence of ladybirds yourself first to avoid disappointment). If there are no ladybirds try aphids and ants where the
ants 'milk' the aphids (see following material).
- Roses and many other plants often become food for aphids. Design an observation sheet to
record the speed at which ladybird larvae can destroy aphids. Children could think about
what factors may influence this, e.g. how long since the ladybird had a meal? What effect
might the density of aphids have? (Lure ladybirds with a mixture of honey, water and brewer's yeast) Alternatively do ant/aphids observation. Adapt the behaviour record sheet (see
Classroom activity sheet 2). What happens if you place an obstacle in the ants' path?
- Draw your own lifecycle of a ladybird (or aphid or ant). Make up a play to teach others
about the valuable work ladybirds do. Alternatively the ant and cicada Maori legend can
provide a starting point for your play.
- Use the Internet to find out more about ladybirds, ants or aphids. (They are called Ladybugs
in USA)
- Make a food chain diagram based on the aphid, ladybird and/or ant lifestyles.
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all about ladybirds
Insects
(Condensed from an internet article)
www.celticbug.com/LadybugLore/
LadybugLore.html
trol (and conquer) outbreaks of crop-destroying
pests.
Female Ladybirds produce clusters of 20-50 yellow-orange oval-shaped eggs in the early spring.
You can usually find them stuck to the undersides
of leaves. The average female will lay anywhere
from 300 to 1000 eggs during her lifetime! Once
they hatch the Larvae are ravenous and immediately begin gorging on aphids, mealybugs, scale
insects, and other soft-bodied pests. One larva
They aren't much larger than a pencil-rubber can consume as many as 350 aphids during the
(some are even smaller!), and they come in a 3-week period before it enters the Pupa stage
wide variety of colours, including red, orange, and turns into an adult.
pink, yellow, black and even metallic blue. They
can have as many as 20 spots or no spots at all.
Ladybird eggs
Most species of Ladybird are voracious aphideaters, although some eat only scale insects
and/or mealybugs, others eat mites, and at least
one (Illeis galbula) easts mildew fungus. One
Ladybird can eat about 600 aphids in its lifetime,
and about 3000 Ladybirds can easily protect an
entire acre of plants! They're also one of the few
insects that hibernate during the winter months,
emerging in the spring to lay their eggs.
In New Zealand the best time to look for ladybirds is when aphids are around in large numLadybird Larvae are actually larger than their bers, in early spring and again in autumn.
parents, and they look very much like little blue- Ladybirds are a bit clumsy, though efficient, fliers.
black alligators! In fact, some well-meaning gar- Their transparent wings (hidden from view under
deners will actually exterminate them because the outer wing cases, until they take to the air)
they don't recognize them as Ladybird offspring! flutter at a rate of 85 beats per second! Their
However, all Ladybirds are completely harmless bright colors serve as a warning sign to birds and
to humans, but extremely helpful in your garden other potential predators that they don’t taste
and yard. Numerous species of Ladybirds have good! If attacked by a predator, Ladybirds ooze
been "employed" around the world to help con- a yellow, foul-smelling liquid (actually their
blood!) from their leg joints, which is usually all it
takes to convince their attacker not to continue
snacking on them. Finally, after consuming aphids
all summer-long, the air starts to turn brisk, and
the Ladybirds begin to seek shelter for the winter.
Their scientific names (Coleoptera, meaning
"sheath-winged", and Coccinellidae, meaning "little red sphere") can be quite a mouthful, but by
whatever name you call them, Ladybirds are well
known and well loved all over the Earth. There
are nearly 5,000 species worldwide!
Ladybird larva
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They cluster together by the hundreds (for
warmth, it's presumed) under dead leaves or
inside hollow logs. There they will remain - in
hibernation - until the warmer temperatures
return, indicating that Spring has come and the
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
all about ladybirds cont’d.
Hibernating Ladybirds
Insects
immobile pupae (Nan) remained fastened to the
plants and couldn't escape!
HOW THE LADYBIRD GOT ITS NAME
There are varying legends about how the
Ladybird came to be named, but the most common (and enduring) is this: in Europe, during the
Middle Ages, swarms of insects were destroying
the crops. The farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary
for help. Soon thereafter the Ladybirds came,
devouring the plant-destroying pests and saving
the crops. The farmers called these beautiful
insects "The Beetles of Our Lady", and they eventually became popularly known as "Lady
Beetles"! The red wings were said to represent
aphid population has replenished. The Ladybirds the Virgin's cloak and the black spots were symwill then devote themselves to several days of bolic of both her joys and her sorrows.
eating and frenzied mating, the females sometimes feeding and breeding at the same time! LADYBIRD LEGENDS
Our beautiful, bright beetles will die soon there- Nearly all cultures believe that a Ladybird is
after but before they do, new clusters of yellow- lucky! Killing one is said to bring sadness and misorange eggs will be laid and the life cycle begins fortune.
anew.
In the 1800s, some doctors used Ladybirds to
treat measles! They also believed that if you
mashed Ladybirds (ewww!) and put them into a
cavity, the insects would stop a toothache.
Folklore suggests if you catch a Ladybird in your
home, count the number of spots and that's how
many dollars you'll soon find!
By whatever name you know them as, Ladybirds
are certainly well-known and well-loved, all
around the Globe.
"Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home....your house
is on fire, and your children will burn! Except little Nan, who sits in a pan, weaving gold laces as
fast as she can"! Undoubtedly, you're familiar
with this well-known children's rhyme, but do you
know how it originated? In Medieval England, the
farmers would set torches to the old Hop vines
after the harvest, to clear the fields for the next
planting. The poem was a warning to the aphideating Ladybirds, still crawling on the vines in
search of aphids. The Ladybirds' children (larvae) could get away from the flames, but the
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Insects
all about ladybirds cont’d.
An excerpt from an article for Soil and Health aphid, that charming yellow and black aphid which
(2002), by John Early, Auckland Museum's ento- can cover the stems in its sheer abundance, and
mologist:
whose colonies perform a synchronized dance when
disturbed. This ladybird is a native of Australia
“The 25 or so dull brown or blackish native NZ and the Pacific, and appeared here in the 1960s.
species live incognito and usually don't venture into
our gardens, but not so the introduced species, often METALLIC BLUE
brightly coloured with contrasting patterns of black
One of the most
on red, yellow or orange, or the inverse of orange
familiar ladyon black. On the face of it, they seem unlikely
birds in the
predators and show none of the usual features
North Island is
associated with predation. Their squat and dumpy
the
steelblue
bodies with short legs are hardly designed for
ladybird Halmus
speed, there are no prominent jaws held forwards
chalybeus. It's an
for seizing prey, and their bright colours seem
Australian
aimed to advertise their presence rather than prospecies, brought
vide camouflage for stealthily creeping up on their here in 1899 to control black scale, but it will attack
victims. But then again, the things that ladybirds eat a range of other scale insects as well as aphids on
aren't very mobile themselves and are unlikely to a variety of plants. This species doesn't seem to be
get up and run away from an approaching preda- much affected by the seasons, and you can find it
tor decked out in hazard warning colours.
year round, particularly on citrus.
Two common reddish orange species are the
eleven-spotted and two-spotted ladybirds. The YELLOW AND BLACK
first of these was deliberately introduced from
Harmonia conEurope in 1874 as one of the first attempts at
formis, at 6 mm
aphid control in NZ. It is also the first documented
long and yelcase in the world of the transfer of a predatory
low with 18
insect for biocontrol. The larvae are just as vorablack spots, is
cious as the adults, and feed on several aphid
one of the
species on a wide variety of plants from grasses to
largest ladyherbs to trees. They'll also attack small caterpillars.
birds. It was
Two spotted ladybird (Adalia bipunctata) prefer to
brought in from
live it up in the branches - look for it on aphid- Australia and seems relatively common around the
infested fruit trees. Both of these ladybirds can be Auckland area. It attacks mealybugs and psyllids,
found throughout NZ, but they seem more abundant (small, scale-like nymphs living in dimples on leaf
in the south, especially drier areas like Hawkes Bay undersides) as well as aphids. But it's a smaller yeland Canterbury.
low and black species that is more commonly
encountered in northern gardens. The mildew ladyA third orange-red species with black markings can bird Illeis galbula, of normal ladybird proportions,
become abundant in the top half of the North is an unusual member of its family because it has
Island. This is the double-cross ladybird Coelophora forsworn carnivory for a fungal diet. In autumn you
inaequalis, whose markings produce a roughly can often find huge numbers of them and their lardelineated cross on each wing cover. It's a gener- vae on the underside of mildewed leaves, particualist feeder on a number of different aphid species. larly of cucurbits (pumpkin type family) and
It can become rather numerous on my swan plants dahlias. This species mysteriously appeared in the
late in the season where it tucks in to the oleander mid 1980s.”
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ants
Insects
S
cientist estimate that approximately 10% of the world's biomass is made
up of ants. Another 10% are termites. Today there are about 1 million ants
for every person on earth. New Zealand has only 10 native ant species,
compared with Australia's 5000. The native ants occur mainly in the soil and are
rarely encountered inside houses. Unfortunately the number of introduced species
is increasing each decade (28 kinds by 1991). The most common interloper into
our kitchens is the introduced Asian White-footed House Ant (Technomyrmex
albipes). The most worrying discovery lately has been a nest of Red Fire Ants
close to Auckland airport. The M.A.F. response was quick and follow-up bait stations indicate it’s unlikely that the Red Fire Ant became firmly established on this
occasion.
The following legend suggests the origins of the body shape of the ant:
AN ANT LEGEND FROM CHINA
Why the Ant has a Waist
Chaozheng Lien, the founder of the NaXi nation, fell in love with Chenhong
Baobai, the daughter of a god. Lien asked this god for her hand in marriage.
Unfortunately Chenhong Baobai's father didn't like the idea at all. Hoping to discourage the eager suitor he asked Chaozheng Lien to solve numerous extremely
difficult problems. The god thought that by creating problems of such difficulty
Lien would be forced to give up, proving he was unworthy of marrying the
princess. But, with her help, Lien managed to complete all his tasks and married
Baobai.
One of the challenges had been to harvest and then to sort out and separate
nine types of cereal seed. With the help of a white butterfly and a black ant,
Lien managed to gather the seeds into a pile. When he separated them and
counted them he found that three and a half of the seeds were missing. It
turned out that a turtledove had eaten three and the ant had taken the other
half seed. Lien shot down the turtledove to retrieve the three seeds. He then
found the ant under a stone and tied a horse-hair around it so he could follow
the ant to where it had hidden the half seed. Lien did not remove the hair and
to this day, ants can been seen with a tight knot around their waist.
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Insects
ants & aphids
Paratrechina flavipes helping aphids to move
Lasius japonicus obtaining honey from aphids on
a rose.
ANTS AND APHIDS
Taken from the website: http://ant.edb.miyakyou.ac.jp/Taxo_E/F80902.html
Rearing insects to obtain honey
Ants sometimes take care of the larvae of
aphids or scale insects. This seems strange, but
the reason is that since these insects release a
sweet sap, the ant raises them to obtain a supply of the sap rather than eating them. As long
as these insects are being cared for by ants,
they are protected from other enemies.
Paratrechina flavipes sucking sweet sap from scale insects
33
Native Ant
Length 1cm
(Monomorium antarcticum)
Golden brown with 3
black bands over the
abdomen.
Keeping aphids
Some people call the aphid ‘the ant's cow’. In
order to obtain sweet sap from the aphids, ants
carry them to the buds of plants that produce a
large amount of sweet sap, especially rose buds.
The ant also raises scale insects. Instead of taking the sweet sap away, the ants defend the
scale insects from parasitic flies or carry them to
a place where a large amount of the sweet sap
can be obtained.
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
classroom activity sheet 2
Insects
ANTS: FORAGING EXPERIMENTS
AIM: TO DESIGN A CONTROLLED BEHAVIOURAL EXPERIMENT WITH WILD ANTS.
· Survey experiences with ants among the students. Make a chart of known lifestyle facts to
date. Students draw what they think happens underground.
· As a class discuss the type of food ants are commonly attracted to (cat food, picnic sandwiches). What might be important to an ant when looking for food (Perhaps distance from
nest, position of food, sun or shade, odour of food, salty or sweet, etc.)? List ideas and suggest how each idea could be tested. Select one idea out of all and predict what will happen.
Your whole class will be asking the same experimental question but approaching it with their
own group food choices.
· Search for ants' nests outside and select as many as possible which are at least 20cm apart.
· Working in groups collect some test foods, each group's foods according to their own experimental
design. You’ll need magnifiers, food containers, data sheets and observation recording sheet.
· Data sheet: The nest is shown in the centre of the sheet. Each group draws and labels the
positions of their food lures and any other relevant information, depending on the design
parameters. Beside foods record the order and speed they were discovered, 1st, 2nd etc.
Also do an ant count at set times to discover which was the most and least popular food.
· Observation sheet: The purpose is to observe and record the behaviour of a number of individual ants. Each group member fills in the following details about several ants observed
going to different lures. *Did the ant follow a trail to the food? * What happened if it met
another? * Which body part touched the food first? *Did it follow a trail back to the nest?
· Compare, collate and analyse data as a class. Display in any form suitable for your level.
Collect and look at various ants under a microscope. Are they all the same species?
· For able students place a paper strip close to one of the food lures. This will later be able
to be rotated to observe whether ants lay a scent trail (the turning of the strip by 180° will
confuse the ants if they have laid a trail).
· Older students may do further research about introduced ants and other pest dangers by
accessing the Landcare Research web site. Others might be interested to investigate insect
pheromones.
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Insects
classroom activity sheet 3
INSECT MOUTH PARTS EXPERIMENTS
AIM: TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENT INSECT MOUTHPART ADAPTATIONS AND INVESTIGATE HOW
THESE FUNCTION.
1) Brainstorm ideas for different insect foods (include our blood as a food). Chart the foods
and list beside each type of food the method with which it could be eaten. If you had to eat
this using only your mouth what tools in your mouth would help? E.g. nectar (liquid in a small
cuplike area), will need to be sucked up with a tube, like drinking a milkshake. Humans can
shape our lips like a tube, but can insects do this?
2) Give each child an iceblock stick and a container half filled with cornflakes. The object is to
eat the contents, but you can only use hands to steady the cup. Discuss how this task could be
made easier.
3) Hand each child a picture of one insect out of the 5 following types: fly, mosquito, praying mantis, grasshopper, butterfly. Ask them to make a 5-person group in which all insects are different.
· Each group goes to a workstation which displays various insect 'mouthpart' tools.
1) scissors, 2) plastic drinking straw, 3) straw with sharply pointed end, 4) straw with a piece
of flat sponge attached to one end, 5) clothes peg. At each station is also one of the following 'foods': saucer with water (represents any free liquid source such as nectar); cup with water
but covered in Glad Wrap (vein covered by tough skin or liquid inside plant stem); bowl of
marbles (insect prey with hard carapaces such as beetles); bowl of raisins (softer insects and
solid bits of food); sheet of paper (plant leaves).
· Each child selects a feeding tool which would be most appropriate for the insect they represent. They then discuss and try collecting the foods with only the tools they have. *Note:
Straws should not be sucked with the mouth (meningitis). Water can be collected by dipping
the straw in then holding a finger over the end. Each child collects foods in a separate container. Groups move around each station to experiment with all the foods available. Food supplies will need replenishing periodically.
· Discuss which insect's mouthparts had the easiest task to collect foods. Which could collect a
variety of food? Chart results and add to the chart as the study progresses any other insect
with the same mouthparts as the experimental five.
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classroom activity sheet 4
Insects
INSECT GAME
The size of an insect population can change quite dramatically. Usually environmental factors are at
work. This game gives you a chance to be a conservation scientist involved in studying a population
of dragonflies.
Most of us will have seen beautiful, acrobatic dragonflies near ponds and swamps. Few though will
have seen the ugly, dull coloured young. This is because dragonfly nymphs (babies) hatch out from
eggs which the mother lays in or near the water. They spend several years lurking near the muddy
lake bottom hunting worms, tadpoles and insects. When they have grown enough they emerge from
the water, crawl out of their old skins and fly away to become fearsome hunters in the air. Dragonflies
represent the most ancient flying insects. Their ancestors first appeared about 350 MYA during the
Carboniferous period.
The habitat in this game is a small lake. You will need a generous supply of counters for this game. In
the START square each player begins with a small population of 10 dragonfly nymphs. You could
place 9 coloured counters in your matchbox for this, and use only one to move on the game board.
Throw a dice and move around the board. Follow the instructions and add (or remove) counters in your
box. At the end of the game count who has the most nymphs left in their population.
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museum insect trail - yr 1-3
Insects
1. Go to the ORIGINS GALLERY - (Past the dinosaurs and close to the moa egg)
This is a female
Giant Weta
What is missing from the
weta's head? Draw them.
I can jump but I have
no __________
Something is missing from
the end of her body. She
lays eggs with this. Draw it
in.
Her body has patterns on
the back. Draw them in
the right place.
2. Walk past the kiwis and bats. Find the insects that flew to New Zealand
(migrants).
Which number insect do you like?
How is it different from the weta?
Can you guess who I am?
I am named after a dangerous beast
which breathes fire.
I hunt near water.
I have 4 see-through wings.
I am a………………………………
Draw me here
3. Go to the limestone cave (right hand side in the LAND GALLERY)
GALLERY
Look up at the roof. The little stars are Glowworms. They use light to catch their __________.
Find the Cave Weta. Compare these Weta with the Giant Weta.
How are they different? ____________________________
How are they the same? ____________________________
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museum insect trail yr 1-3 cont’d.
Insects
4. Go to the computer touch screen by the forest birds display.
Touch the:
Rifleman
Its beaks holds a __________________
Yellowhead Its beak is full of __________________
Kaka
It is hunting under the _____________with its beak.
What do you think it will find to eat?
5. Find the window in the fallen tree (opposite the Kauri tree in the LAND GALLERY).
Fill in the gaps in the flow chart about the Huhu beetle
Grub eats
grub becomes
beetle
which is eaten by
Find the adult Huhu beetle on the log.
6. Some insects live in water. Go to the Swamp display.
Can you find an insect that looks like this
What does it use to move around? _______________.
Why do you think it keeps swimming to the top?_____________________
7. Go to the sandy beach display in the OCEANS GALLERY.
GALLERY
Find this insect baby (a larva)
It changes into the black beetle when it grows up.
(Look just above the larva)
Finish the scarab beetle
7. Walk past the large video screen area (the video lasts 5 minutes).
Find the stuffed animals in the HUMAN IMPACTS GALLERY
Can you spot the insects which were all brought here accidentally by humans?
How many insects do you recognize? Have you seen any in your garden?
38
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
weird & wonderful activity sheet
DID U KNow?
Find the Queen bee. She is
marked with a red sticker.
Does she look different
from the other bees?
a) Yes, she has a larger
abdomen and no stripes
b) No. she is the same as
the other bees.
The worker bees are all female
Look
Worker bees live for 12 weeks
The worker bees do many jobs
Climb up the ladder.
as they grow older
Where are the bees going?
Choose one:
a) to flowers to collect nectar
b) to have a look outside
c) to go and sting somebody
Listen
SMELL
Put your ear up to the clear
plastic tube.
What can you hear?
Put your nose over the bee
hive.
What can you smell?
B___
Find
H____
Dra
w
the Queen bee. She is
marked with a red sticker. What is she doing?
Choose one:
a bee
Can you see a bee wtih pollen
blobs on her back legs?
What colour(s) is it?
a) telling the other bees
what to do
b) putting her tail down a
hole to lay her eggs
________________
______________
Do all cells contain honey?
Look for:
Honey
39
Capped
Watch
Egg
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
weird & wonderful activity sheet
Insects
Bug Bits
Be an insect
supersleuth
Look in the Live Insects case:
Clue 1
How many body parts
does an insect have?
one
Answer the clues to
draw the insect under
the magnifying glass!
Open at least 4 red drawers
to find:
Clue 2
How many legs does an
insect have?
two
four
two
six
Draw the correct
number of legs onto
the body you have
just drawn.
three
Copy the correct
body under the
magnifying glass
Look in the red drawers
near the stick insects:
Look under the microscope:
Clue 4
Clue 3
Which of these is an
insect’s eye?
How many wings do most
insects have?
What is the name of the
insect you’ve drawn?
one
L_____
two
Find the live ones in the
glass case
Draw the correct eyes onto the
insect’s head
four
six
40
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
museum insect trail - Yr 4-6
1. In the ORIGINS GALLERY, walk past the Dinosaurs and find the Weta display
Insect Curiosities on the right near the Adzebill skeleton.
Choose two different insects. Write down their names________________________________
Which insect group do you think each belongs to (or does it need a new group)? (ant, fly,
bee, grasshopper, butterfly, beetle) Why? ______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Find the display called Migrants Continue to Arrive (by the exit sign in the
ORIGINS GALLERY)
GALLERY
Read the names of the insects numbers 8 to 16
Which name do you like best?__________________________________________________
Explain why the name does or doesn't match the insect._______________________________
3. Go into the LAND GALLERY and find the Plant Adaptations display on the left.
See if you can find the insects on the rocks. All the insects are a dark colour. This helps them
absorb warmth from the sun.
Why would this be useful in the mountains? _______________________________________
4. Go into the limestone cave on the right in the LAND GALLERY.
GALLERY
Find insects which are specially adapted to cave life
(don't forget to look up).
Why do cave weta have such very long feelers?
(hint: they live in darkness)___________________________________
5. Find the Forest Birds in a big glass display case with the
computer touch-screen nearby.
Touch the screen to find birds eating or collecting insects.
Find the kaka. It collects insects from under the bark.
How is it suited for this job? _________________________________
_______________________________________________________
41
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
museum insect trail - yr 4-6 cont’d.
Insects
6. Find the window in the fallen tree (opposite the big Kauri tree in the LAND
GALLERY).
GALLERY Fill in the gaps in the flow chart about the Huhu beetle
Grub eats
grub becomes
is eaten by
The adult Huhu beetle (on the log) has long feelers.
Why doesn’t the grub have feelers?
____________________________________________
7. Go to the Swamp display in the LAND GALLERY near the cabbage tree and the exit sign.
Find the backswimmers and watch them carefully for a while.
How are these insects adapted to living in water?____________________
__________________________________________________________
Why might they go to the top?__________________________________
8. Go to the Oceans gallery and find the Sandy beach display.
Read about the Native Bee (10) and the Black Spider-hunter Wasp (8)
Why do they nest under the sand ? _____________________________
The Beetle (4) uses seaweed to __________ and to __________ under.
Find the Tiger Beetles ( 1, A B C D )
How are those beetles different from each other to look at? __________________________
Why do they need to be different? _____________________________________________
9. Walk up the ramp, past the large rock pool and past the large video screens.
Keep going until you find the HUMAN IMPACTS GALLERY (with the stuffed animals)
Look at the display labelled Naturalised Animals. These animals were introduced into New
Zealand. They have no natural enemies here. Why might that be a problem? _______
_________________________________________________________________________
Which insect could be good for N.Z. and which one could be a pest? __________________
Sketch your choice in this space
42
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
weird & wonderful worksheet
Weird & Wonderful Insect information gathering
Eye spy
Open some of the red
insect drawers With the
yellow labels.
Find one insect that could
hide on a leaf.
Find one that has good
legs for jumping.
Find a beetle in the New
Zealand drawers that
lives in water.
Choose one of the live insect displays.
Have they been provided with food?
Find a plant that traps
insects. It is called
carnivorous.
Draw the insect catcher of
one plant.
Can the insects hide anywhere?
Are all the insects the same size and shape and
colour? (If some are much smaller they are probably nymphs or babies.) What other reasons can
you think of that they might be different?
How does the plant attract
insects?
Draw one here
43
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
gallery insect trail yr 7-8
Insects
1. In the ORIGINS GALLERY walk past the Dinosaurs and find the Insect Curiosities
display on the right near the Adzebill skeleton.
Choose two different insects. Write down their names________________________________
Which insect group do you think each belongs to (or does it need a new group - ant, fly, bee,
grasshopper, butterfly, beetle)? Why? _______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. Find the display called Migrants Continue to Arrive (by the exit sign in ORIGINS GALLERY)
GALLERY
Read: Insects & spiders.
The _______________ allows new species to arrive mostly from _______________________
Look at 4, 5 6 & 7.
Usually these insects have their wings tucked away under 2 hard _______________________
How does this help the insect? __________________________________________________
Beetles also hide their wings the same way. Most migrants have wings. How could the spiders
have got here? _____________________________________________________________
Do N.Z. weta, stick insects and earwigs have wings? __________
Many insects in New Zealand are wingless. Winglessness often happens in windy countries.
Why? ____________________________________________________________________
3. LAND GALLERY, stop by the mountain scene on the left. Look for insects on the rocks.
What 2 advantages do insects in the mountains get from their dark colours? ___________and
_________________. Find some dark coloured insects on the rocks and in the drawer below.
4. Go to the limestone cave on the right.
There are 5 easy to find creatures in this cave display.
Use the chart below to classify the five creatures. Write their names by the correct insect.
Does the creature have:
Legs
No Legs
6 Legs
8 Legs or more
No wings
Wings
2 hard covers
hide wings, can’t
see the segments
of abdomen Just 2 wings
Beetle
Fly
4 wings
Scaly and
coloured
Transparent
2 wings
Butterfly Dragonfly,
or moth bee, wasp,
or cicada
Body long
and thin
8 Legs
more
Spider
Centipede
or milipede
well developed
legs and long
feelers
Pincers at All legs the
one end same length
Earwig
Stick
insect
Weta
Slug
or
snail
44
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
gallery insect trail yr 7-8 cont’d.
Insects
5. Find the Forest Birds (a big glass display case) with the computer touch-screen nearby
Look at the Kaka (4) and touch the screen to see it hunting for food.
6. Find the following habitats and fill in the parts of the food-chains that are missing.
(plant uses sun to make own food)
(is eaten by)
Producer
Fallen log forest area
_____________
Swamp area
_____________
Sandy beach area
_____________
(is eaten by)
Consumer
Predator
Huhu grub
_____________
Cabbage
tree moth
_____________
Beetle (4)
_____________
Go to the OCEANS GALLERY
Find the Tiger Beetles (1, A B C D)
How are those beetles different from each other to look at? ________________________________
Why do they need to be different? ____________________________________________________
Walk up the ramp, past the large rock pool and past the large video screens. Keep going until you
find the HUMAN IMPACTS gallery (with the stuffed animals)
7. In HUMAN IMPACTS,
IMPACTS look at the display labelled Naturalised Animals.
These animals were introduced into New Zealand. How does the Gum Emperor Moth protect itself.
a) when it is a soft caterpillar?________________________________________________________
b) when it is a pupa ? ______________________________________________________________
c) How could the round spots assist the adult moth? ________________________________________
Wasps have different ways of protecting their soft larvae. Look at 15. How are the larvae protected in this small nest?
_______________________________________________________________________________
45
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
gallery insect trail yr 9
Insects
Begin this trail in the ORIGINS GALLERY.
Opposite the moa display find the display called Insect Curiosities behind the Adzebill
skeleton (right side).
Although in overseas countries many of these insects have wings, here in New Zealand they
have lost the power of flight. Give two reasons why. _______________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Find two other ways in which these insects are vulnerable (apart from being unable to fly)
_________________________________________________________________________
Start at the display called: Gondwana's Original Inhabitants, Animals Adrift. (By the moa skeletons)
Use the classification key to find the name of the order which each of the following animals
belong to.
Specimen
belongs to
Order
found in
Gallery area
Cave Weta (7)
Origins, Animals Adrift, Gondwana
Giant Bush Dragonfly (14)
Origins, Animals Adrift, Gondwana
Black Tunnelweb Spider (15)
Origins, Animals Adrift, Gondwana
Scree Grasshopper (12)
Land , Mountain Rock Slope (left)
Tachinid Fly (35)
Insect drawer below the display
Giant Paua Slug (2)
Land, Limestone cave (On the right)
Does the creature have:
Legs
No Legs
6 Legs
8 Legs or more
2 wings
Coleoptera
Diptera
Scaly and
coloured
Lepidoptera
Transparent
2 hard covers
hide wings, can’t
see the segments
of abdomen Just 2 wings
4 wings
8 Legs +
2 palps more
No wings
Wings
Body long
and thin
well developed
legs and feelers
Pincers at All legs the
one end same length
Ondonata Dermaptera Phasmatodea Orthoptera Arachnidae Myriapods Gastropods
46
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
Insects
gallery insect trail yr 9 cont’d.
In the OCEANS GALLERY
Find the display showing a Mangrove Estuary. Investigate the variety of life and the relationships between life forms found there.
(plant uses sun to make own food) (is eaten by)
Producer
(is eaten by)
Consumer
Decomposer/Scavenger
Give the names of 3 producers that grow here. Explain the different methods they use to deal
with the challenge of salt in their environment.
1 _____________________________________________________________________
2 _____________________________________________________________________
3 _____________________________________________________________________
Find a carnivore and herbivore consumer and explain the different methods of feeding each employs.
1 _____________________________________________________________________
2 _____________________________________________________________________
Find 2 different animals that are scavengers/decomposers. Describe how each feeds.
1 _____________________________________________________________________
2 _____________________________________________________________________
Where would insects fit into this food chain? _______________________________________
In the Sandy Beach display find the label Small Animals on a Sandy Beach. Producers in this
environment either grow in the sand dunes or are seaweeds thrown up on the beach.
List the names of 2 insects that are consumers: a herbivore and a carnivore.
1 __________________________________ 2 __________________________________
What did they consume, and did they use any special method to organize an abundant food
supply? ___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
HUMAN IMPACTS GALLERY
Look at the display labeled Naturalised Animals. Look at the Paper Wasp (15). You can also
go to the Matapuna Resource Centre in this gallery and ask for wasp information at the desk.
Make a quick diagram of a wasp’s nest. Label the three casts of wasps which would live in
the nest. Beside each cast (male, queen, female worker) write some of the tasks each would
fulfil (e.g. who would build and maintain the nest?). Why are these insects so successful in New
Zealand and what has been done to try and eradicate them?
47
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku
gallery activity sheet yr 9 and up
Insects
MATAPUNA RESOURCE CENTRE ACTIVITY
TEACHERS
Matapuna Resource Centre is an area beside the Human Impacts space which is designed to
provide up to date information about New Zealand's natural history.
Matapuna is open to the general public. To maximize your experience, it is advisable to
request this space for a class visit when you are making your booking.
EITHER
Use the centre to research and produce a pamphlet or poster which outlines the success of a
management plan for some introduced insect.
OR
· a conservation issue poster/pamphlet aimed at a certain audience such as school students,
trampers or gardeners.
1. Identify and explain the effects that have been caused by the introduction of a certain
named insect to New Zealand.
2. Show how its introduction has adversely affected our native plants or animals or New
Zealand's economic welfare.
3. What plan of action has been instituted for its control or eradication?
4. Instruct your target audience as to their responsibilities in this action plan.
Use all the resources available in the centre including the staff.
· Newspaper clippings in the desk drawers.
· Pamphlets and fact sheets also in these drawers.
· Books and magazines. Ask at the desk.
· Videos. Ask at the desk.
· Poster collection. The staff has an index.
· Computers with CD Roms.
· Special websites for booked groups.
48
AUCKLAND WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM
The Domain Auckland
Private Bag 92018 Auckland New Zealand
www.akmuseum.org.nz
Auckland Museum
Te Papa Whakahiku