invertebrates

Antarctica is not just a land of ice and snow – it is the coldest, driest climate on earth. When we say the word ‘desert’, we...

Charles Darwin is well known for his work on natural selection. He published widely on topics ranging from barnacles to geology to plants. He travelled the...

In this activity, students use Hub resources to learn about two unusual native New Zealand soil creatures. This cross-curricular activity combines science with reading, viewing, writing...

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are the most important pollinators of many cultivated food crops and other flowering plants. These plants would be in trouble without bees,...

Observation is something we often do instinctively. Observation helps us decide whether it’s safe to cross the road and helps to determine if cupcakes are ready...

In this activity, students play a card game that models the journey of a male pea crab (a parasite of green-lipped mussels) from his mussel host...

Oliver Trottier and Jessica Feickert (Leigh Marine Laboratory) have been working to understand the biology of the New Zealand pea crab, which is a parasite of...

The male pea crab leaves the safety of his green-lipped mussel host when it’s time to mate. He’s looking for a mussel that contains a female...

The New Zealand pea crab (Nepinnotheres novaezelandiae) is a parasite that spends its adult life within a mussel shell. However, the larval stages of its life...

New Zealand pea crabs are known to damage the green-lipped mussels they live in, but what impact do they have on mussel farming in New Zealand?...

Green-lipped mussels are New Zealand’s major aquaculture species. Explore how green-lipped mussels are farmed in New Zealand, the way that the industry has developed and the...

Green-lipped mussels are endemic to New Zealand. They make their home on rocks and solid surfaces around New Zealand’s coastline. Mussel life cycle During its life...

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...

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...

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...

Asking where earthworms live may seem like a silly question. Doesn’t their name say it all? Soil may appear to be a homogeneous place to you...

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...

Big, bold butterflies like the monarch are easy to spot. If you want to see some of our natives, careful observation is the key. null

Butterflies are appealing insects. We actively encourage them to visit our gardens, but white butterflies (Pieris rapae rapae) are an exception. We consider them unwelcome dinner...

It seems that New Zealand, along with many other countries, is home to spiders keen on a fishy dinner. In a first of its kind study...

This activity explores the life cycle of green-lipped mussels and encourages students to research the methods by which they are farmed in New Zealand. It provides...