Fauna

Don't know what bug you have found? Start here!

Landcare's What is this bug? is a guide to common invertebrates of New Zealand pages is a first stop to identify invertebrates and insects and spiders.

Other bug sites:

Massey University's Guide to New Zealand soil invertebrates provides information on New Zealand soil and litter invertebrates, their diversity, biology, ecosystem role, and conservation status. All pages are illustrated with photographs of living animals. Start your identification with the Introductory Key to New Zealand Soil and Litter Invertebrates.

The Department of Conservation - region by region information about your area’s biodiversity and their pages on invertebrates.

The Natural Heritage Collection is a quirky collection of of images and videos that appreciate New Zealand's natural heritage. The collection features extinct and endangered animals and plants and introduced pests.

The University of Florida Book of Insect Records names insect champions and documents their achievements. Our Little Barrier Island giant weta is rated there as one of the world’s heaviest insects.

Ants

For information on ants start here.

Birds

Landcare's 'How to identify birds' pages complete with photos can also be printed out.

Butterflies

The Monarch Butterfly NZ Trust also has information other butterflies. For those interested in tagging Monarch butterflies, the Trust will supply free swan plant seed to schools. Send a self-addressed envelope and request to MBNZT, C/- NZ Post, Russell 0242.

Frogs

DOC's frog identifier. There is also a handy frog identification key:

Stowaways, detailed information on invasive invertebrates from Landcare.

Pests:

Pests and Predators Interactive. Click on a pest, drag it into the forest scene, and release it see the devastation an introduced animal can cause to New Zealand's indigenous environment and wildlife. From the TKI website.

Reptiles and amphibians

The New Zealand Herpetological Society's site shows New Zealand's herpetofauna (reptiles & amphibians).

Snails

To aid identification of micro-land snails found amongst leaf litter, DOC have produced downloadable posters. These represent a small sample of the (probably) 2000 species occurring in New Zealand, of which only about 500 have been named.

It is thought that New Zealand may have 3 - 5 times the snail diversity of most other countries in the world, when calculated on a per unit area basis.

Spiders:

Sometimes spiders are incorrectly identified as insects. The Science IS website hosts an activity where students will look at specific body parts so they can develop a system for correctly distinguishing between spiders and insects.

What spider is that? Great pictures and stories about spiders from Te Papa's to help you identify some of our strange and wonderful spiders. It also explains a few of their intriguing habits and answers common questions such as: Why doesn't a spider get caught in its own web?

Answer: Spiders are thought to produce a special liquid that they coat their bodies with. This stops them getting caught in the sticky part of the web.

Spiders and other arachnids is Te Ara's site which includes some really interesting facts and some great pictures.

Worms:

Plant and Food Research - provides information about the earthworm.

Flora, fauna and fungi classroom exercises

The New Zealand Council for Educational Research hosts a great website of assessment resource banks (arbs) in science (flora and fauna) for students working at levels 2-5. To access the ARBs, you will need to register with a username and password.  It is not difficult to register as a teacher and the resources are really useful to the project. Particularly:

• LW0528 (Level 5)  Identify from an experiment the preferred living conditions of slaters, and use a fact file to suggest reasons why.
• LW0017 (L3) Plants and animals in the soil depend on each other and on the non-living parts of their environment for their survival.
• LW0014 (L4) Plant classification. All the individuals within any one group of living things share a number of features in common.
• LW0067 (L2) Select the features that place that animal into that invertebrate group. (Excellent)
• LW0637 (L2-4) Each species has specific structures with specific functions that contribute to the survival of that species. Write about the parts of the snail that help it to survive.
• LW2069 Students answer questions about a soil food web. There are a lot of living things in the soil. Nematodes, for example, are tiny worm-like animals that live in the soil. Even though we don’t notice them, there are millions of them there, and they are of different types. Some are herbivores and some are carnivores. (Excellent)
• LW0502 The diagram shows some feeding relationships that begin under the ground. This sort of diagram is called a food web. This task is about animals that live underground, and the special features they have that help them live there. (Excellent)

Books:

Which New Zealand Insect? - Andrew Crowe: Penguin Books. 2002.

Which New Zealand Spider? - Andrew Crowe: Penguin Books. 2007.

Insects: A Life-Sized Photo Guide to Over 200 of New Zealand's Most Common and Striking Land Invertebrates (Nature Flip Guides) - Andrew Crowe.

Backyard Battlefield -  Ruud Kleinpaste, is a great reference guide to bugs.