new zealand

My PhD project in a nut shell

July 2, 2019 By Tom Leave a Comment

I started my PhD in October 2017 at the University of Auckland.

My supervisor is Associate Professor Greg Holwell. Greg is interested in evolution—particularly sexual selection—and uses arthropods to work on some of the biggest questions in this area. My co-supervisor is Dr Gonzalo Avila, leader of the biocontrol team at Plant & Food Research, Auckland. Gonzalo is interested in evaluating parasitoids for their uses in classical biocontrol programmes.

This post is a brief overview of the rationale and methods of my project.

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How to separate BMSB from NZ stink bugs

November 6, 2018 By Tom 10 Comments

Brown marmorated stink bug is a serious horticultural pest native to East Asia. It damages crops, infests ornamental plants, and seeks out shelter over the winter causing massive problems for homes and businesses. Fortunately we don’t have it in New Zealand yet, but in order to keep it out we need to know what it looks like. In this post I show you how to tell it apart from other New Zealand stink bugs.

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One year of blogging!

October 24, 2018 By Tom Leave a Comment

I published my first blog post exactly one year ago today.

Since then I’ve delved into a broad range of topics, such as pest control with 1080, native New Zealand wasps, and how students can set up their own website.

Because this is my 21st post, it means I’ve published one post every two and a half weeks, on average. Not too bad, but I’m aiming to post once every 2 weeks in the year ahead. I also have some multimedia plans, so stay tuned for updates.

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Identify & Record Nature with iNaturalist

August 31, 2018 By Tom Leave a Comment

Ever seen a weird creature and wanted to know more about it?

iNaturalist is a citizen science project and online social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. The iNaturalist platform is supported by the California Academy of Sciences based in San Francisco. New Zealand has its own version of the iNaturalist platform called iNaturalist NZ — Mātaki Taiao. Our local version is run by the New Zealand Bio-Recording Network (NZBRN), a charitable trust led by a team of NZ ecologists and biodiversity IT professionals.

Our local version provides a Kiwi window into iNaturalist that shows just the New Zealand observations. That way your fantails and totara observations don’t get lost in a flood of squirrels and bald eagles!

You can upload photos of any organism from the mobile app (or from your digital camera onto the website) and you’ll be connected with experts who can help to identify what you’ve seen.

Heres a quick overview of how to use iNaturalist.

Image used with permission. Thanks Jon!

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Stink Bugs of NZ

July 24, 2018 By Tom 12 Comments

My PhD project focuses on biocontrol: using beneficial species to manage the impacts of undesirable species.

I’m looking at Trissolcus japonicus, or the ‘samurai wasp.’ This tiny Asian wasp has been proposed for release against the brown marmorated stink bug in New Zealand (if and when the stink bug is found to have established here). My work focuses on testing the likelihood this wasp would attack New Zealand’s native and naturalised stink bug species if it were released. In order to do this, I’m rearing NZ stink bug species so I can use their eggs to test the behaviour of the wasp.

Most researchers conducting these types of tests would have to compile a short-list of stink bug species to test, based on things like their biological classification, their rarity, their economic importance, etc. But New Zealand has so few species of stink bug, I can include all potential non-target species in my tests. Here is a visual guide to New Zealand’s stink bugs.

When stink bugs hatch, they aggregate together around the egg shells until after their first moult. Image CC-BY-NC 4.0 by fairyeagle / iNaturalistNZ

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An Open Gallery of Native NZ Wasps

July 9, 2018 By Tom Leave a Comment

Yes, we have native wasps in New Zealand!

Unfortunately we also have a handful of introduced social wasps. The introduced wasps prey on native invertebrates and create a nuisance (especially for people who are allergic to their stings). But our native wasps do not live together in colonies and they do not sting. They are parasitoid wasps: a very diverse and important group, and we are just beginning to unravel the complex relationships they have with other species here in New Zealand.

During my masters research I caught 61 species of parasitoid wasps from the group I was interested in (the Ichneumonidae). Fifty-six of these species are represented here. You’ll notice most are given a ‘first name’ and then ‘sp.#’ – This means we know the first name (the genus), and we know it is a species, but it is not yet described as a species. Most of our invertebrates are like this because there are so many species and so few people to describe and name them.

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Better Biosecurity Conference 2018

May 10, 2018 By Tom Leave a Comment

I was in Wellington on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th May for the 2018 Better Border Biosecurity (B3) Conference.

Everything ready for #B32018 plant border #biosecurity conference at Te Papa NZ tomorrow May 7 with 150 attendees and presentations from @MPI_NZ @PBCRC @BioHeritage_NZ @BioprotectionNZ @CEBRA_UoM @TiraWhakamataki @docgovtnz @SITplusPD @drjoluck @CSIROnews and more

— B3 Director (@B3Director) May 6, 2018

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Finding NZ’s Rarest ‘Bug’

April 23, 2018 By Tom 2 Comments

I’m riding in a truck with Brian Lyford through the valleys surrounding Queenstown on a crisp December morning. Our destination is 1400 meters up on a nearby mountain. We complete the trip through private forestry land mostly by vehicle. An amazing view of the surrounding landscape greets us as we emerge from the tree-line. This is the mountain harbouring a special stink bug, Hypsithocus hudsonae, or the Alpine shield bug.

Otago is awash with views like these.

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