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A closer look at caddisflies
You must look very closely to see one of the caddisflies NIWA scientists have just discovered in the Waikato: it’s barely as big as the head of a pin. But microscopic examination confirms that two recently collected caddisfly species are new to science.
One came from a South Waikato river. The minute specimen – considered a ‘microcaddisfly’ – was found in the Mangaiti Reserve in residential Hamilton and may prove to be New Zealand’s smallest species of caddisfly. Both species were caught with specially designed ultraviolet light traps that can be used to sample the insects’ terrestrial, adult stage from streams and rivers.
Caddisflies are one of the most diverse groups of organisms living in New Zealand’s fresh waters. All but one of our 250–plus species are endemic to New Zealand; that is, they occur nowhere else in the world.
These two new species will help improve our understanding of freshwater biodiversity in the Waikato region. What we learn about them will contribute to determining conservation requirements, including prioritising sites for protection.
For further information, contact: Brian Smith, 0-7-856 1756, [email protected]
New monograph completes inventory of New Zealand sea-stars
NIWA has published the third and final volume of a trilogy describing and naming the New Zealand sea-star fauna. Written by retired NIWA biologist Don McKnight, it deals with four orders of sea-stars: Velatida, Brisingida, Forcipulatida, and Spinulosida. Most representatives of these orders are found at continental-shelf depths or deeper, but some of the 33 species of Forcipulatida occur in shallower water and are reasonably familiar to New Zealanders. Among these species are the large purple and orange seven-armed sea-star Astrostole scabra and the prickly Coscinasterias muricata.
The volume includes descriptions of additional new species from two other orders discovered since the publication of the previous volumes. One of these, from the Graveyard seamounts, is a species of Podosphaeraster, an unusual genus of spherical sea-stars.
The full tally of 185 species in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is significant compared to the 36 sea-star species of Britain and surrounding seas on the one hand, and the 280 species in Australia’s vast EEZ on the other. All 7 living orders are represented in our fauna, which ranges from the intertidal zone to the abyssal seafloor and includes the notorious crown-of-thorns sea-star (found at Raoul Island in the Kermadec group). The new monograph describes three new genera from seamounts, including Rumbleaster from the Rumble III underwater volcano north of the Bay of Plenty.
All three volumes of the series are available from: NIWA Science Communications, 0-4-386 0300, [email protected] or from the NIWA website: www.niwascience.co.nz/pubs/bm
McKnight, D.G. (2006). The marine fauna of New Zealand: Echinodermata: Asteroidea (sea-stars). 3. Orders Velatida, Spinulosida, Forcipulatida, Brisingida with adenda to Paxillosida, Valvatida. NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 120. 187 p. ($75)
Clark, H.E.S.; McKnight, D.G. (2001). The marine fauna of New Zealand: Echinodermata: Asteroidea (sea-stars). Order Valvatida. NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 117. 269 p. ($95)
Clark, H.E.S.; McKnight, D.G. (2001). The marine fauna of New Zealand: Echinodermata: Asteroidea (sea-stars). Orders Paxillosida, Notomyotida. NIWA Biodiversity Memoir 116. 196 p. ($74)