This New Zealand-based citizen science project collects data about butterflies in our gardens, schools, parks and farms – any location in the country or on the...
In this webinar, join Greta Dromgool as she introduces Tom Saunders and Chrissie Painting – two of Aotearoa New Zealand’s amazing entomologists. Delve into the fascinating...
Pollinators are insects that visit flowers to drink nectar or feed on pollen. During this process, they get covered in pollen grains and then transport the...
In Spring 2020 Countdown developed a fantastic collection of insect cards and an album full of amazing facts and activities all about insects found in Aotearoa...
This article introduces students to a citizen science project that tags and tracks monarch butterflies to see where they go to overwinter. It notes the importance...
iNaturalist logs hundreds of thousands of photos of flora, fauna and fungi. There are even sound recordings too. Each is described and geo located. iNaturalist is...
We know that some animals make amazing long-distance journeys called migrations. This article explores some of the technology scientists use to track the animals and their...
Communication in science takes many forms. When Dr Corrine Watts discovered unusual pinkish-orange larvae living inside wetland plants, she turned to Dr Robert Hoare for help...
Moths are members of the order Lepidoptera, but these mostly nocturnal creatures are often in the shadow of the brighter, day-flying butterflies. New Zealand has fewer...
Names are important. They identify who we are and where we come from. But sometimes, names don’t tell the whole story. For example, the Oxford Dictionary...
Moths make up the third most diverse insect group in New Zealand, and their day/night habits are also diverse. While most moths are nocturnal (active at...
Moths, along with butterflies, are part of the order Lepidoptera (from the Greek for scaled wings). Over 90% of New Zealand’s Lepidoptera species are endemic, found...
Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) follow the same life cycle stages – egg, larva, pupa and adult – but aspects differ from species to species. By rearing...
The MothNet Shedding Light on the Night and Ahi Pepe Mothnet projects involve the collection and identification of moth species. The project is a partnership between...
In this online PD session recorded on 30 July 2015, primary school teacher Angela Schipper describes how she used the Butterflies resources from the Science Learning...
Here are links to Science Learning Hub resources for primary teachers related to insects in the Living World strand of the New Zealand Curriculum. Investigate insects...
The New Zealand Curriculum has a strong focus on ensuring that all students have the skills and knowledge to participate in public debates and decision-making processes...
This unit plan is designed for students in years 6-8. When someone mentions the word ‘butterfly’, what image pops into your head? Chances are it’s the...
This unit plan is designed for students in years 1-5. When someone mentions the word butterfly, what image pops into your head? Chances are it’s the...
When Hub writers, Paula Lourie and Angela Schipper, first raised the topic of creating a range of articles about butterflies for the Science Learning Hub, they...
In this activity, students use white butterfly eggs, larvae and pupae to examine the white butterfly life cycle and to compare it with that of a...
In this activity, students place small stickers (tags) onto caught or newly emerged monarch butterflies and release them into the environment. The tag number, information about...
In this activity, students set up and walk a transect to observe and record butterfly sightings. Butterfly sightings are then recorded on the Monarch Butterfly New...
Position: Founding trustee and Trust secretary, Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust Pūrerehua Aotearoa (formerly the Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust). Field: Conservation of native...
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