New Zealand Insects

New Zealand has many interesting insects and most of those are only found only here, including the world's heaviest insect - the Giant Weta.

Insects are very important as they provide food for the like of lizards, fish, bats and birds. They pollinate plants, help decompose organic material into compounds that feed plants, and control populations of other insects.

An example of co dependence between species is that the extinct huia (bird) had its own louse. That louse became extinct with the huia and was only discovered recently on the skins of extinct huia specimens. The feathers of the huia were prized by Maori for adornment and were then fashionable for women's hats here and in England, so the huia were hunted for fashion. New Zealand's bats also have an mite dependant on them and each of our bat species, our only native mammals, are now threatened with extinction. Our bats are the pollinator's of the threatened and very rare woodrose.

We will also include spiders, slugs, mites and other terrestrial invertebrates (no bones) in this section for now. Page three has the highest resolution images. Note that some of these insects are immigrants.

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