Otago is a province with a rich history of establishing firsts. We have led the way in many fields, and that tradition continues. Researchers at the University of Otago are attracting international attention, with some granted millions of dollars for cutting-edge projects. So what are they up to? Reporter John Gibb, in a fortnightly series, does his own research on the researchers.
You don't know what you've got until it's gone.
Dunedin entomologist Anthony Harris is warning that rapid habitat change is endangering and even eliminating some New Zealand insect species before they have been scientifically described and named.
Mr Harris is Otago Museum's honorary curator of entomology and has written the Otago Daily Times Nature File column for the past 29 years.
And, through that column, he has highlighted the growing environmental challenges faced by New Zealand's native flora and fauna.
''How can informed decisions be made on the New Zealand fauna and flora, if the individual species are unnamed?'' he asks.
Over more than 40 years, he has collected and studied New Zealand insects ''from North Cape to southern Stewart Island'', visiting ''as many patches of native vegetation as I could, using packs and motorcycles and tramping on foot''.
''I have become increasingly alarmed at the destruction of almost all native habitats throughout New Zealand, including reserves and national parks.
''My intense passion for entomology is lifelong.
''At 1 year of age, when lifting up boards on our section in Hawera, Taranaki, I was amazed to see ground beetles [Carabidae] beneath, and passionately loved them immediately for their shape, sculpturing and form; their shiny black iridescent bodies with elegantly sculptured wing cases and bright green iridescent sheen, their nicely formed legs, even their odour.''
He was particularly fascinated by all beetles, an interest reflected in his continuing scientific research in this field.
''I produced a small book on Hawera beetles at age 5, and another illustrated book on New Zealand beetles at age 10.
''I was motivated by an intense, lifelong, emotional love of insects and also for the rest of nature, including plants, and the wild, natural landscape.
''Pure streams, native vegetation and small animals in subalpine habitats particularly were wonderful to me and made my heart soar.
''When I found a new, beautiful insect, I sometimes heard heavenly music.
''As soon as I got a bicycle, I rode out to Mt Taranaki and the Tararua, Ruahine and other mountain ranges, where I studied insects.''
And later, as an 18-year-old, in 1962, he won first prize in the British Commonwealth Research Competition, with a project focusing on sand-inhabiting beetles on the Taranaki coast.
Although he had always been keen on studying beetles, he was later inspired to study Pompilidae - spider-hunting wasps - by a DSIR entomologist who had told him they were ''very difficult'' to study, and the species ''very confused'' to analyse.
The DSIR scientist had added: ''I'd bet you could not work those out.''
Mr Harris took that as a challenge.
''I said I would work up the New Zealand species and indeed found it most exciting and very rewarding,'' he said.
These days, Mr Harris doesn't have to look too far from home to see large-scale environmental change, including extensive logging of native bush on private farmland in parts of Southland.
''A warming climate threatens our many subalpine and mountain species,'' he said.
''Unique forms on the Rock and Pillar Range will simply vanish when it becomes too warm for them.
''I believe it is the duty of a museum zoologist to report back to the public on these important matters because they are intimately connected to his subject matter.''
Over the years, three insects have been named after Mr Harris by fellow entomologists.
And rapid environmental change, perhaps influenced by global warming, may have already badly endangered one of those species, the native stiletto fly Anabarhynchus harrisi.
This species is known from only one male and two female specimens collected on sand beside the Blue Stream in the Tasman Valley, near Mt Cook.
''The dark grey body and mat-white wings camouflage it among the grey and white pebbles where it occurs.
''The larvae burrow through the soil and eat paralysed mayflies and caddis flies in underground nests of the native crabronid wasp Podagritus albipes.''
But much of the streamside habitat of this fly - part of a ''strange isolated community of insects'' - has subsequently been greatly changed by the formation of Lake Tasman, from glacial melting.
Sixty-nine species of stiletto flies (Therevidae) had been described in New Zealand, but many undescribed species also existed.
''As habitats are destroyed, large numbers of species will go extinct, many before they have even been discovered, let alone described.''
He points out that many New Zealand insects are ''not well known'' scientifically.
And some exciting and surprising finds resulted when he visited a largely undisturbed fragment of native bush in the northwest of the Woodhaugh Gardens, Dunedin, as part of a programme linked to the New Zealand International Science Festival, in July this year.
Mr Harris highlighted the area's ecological significance, and said it was ''an important relict that should be looked after in perpetuity''.
Many of the rich array of invertebrates found among the leaf litter during that trip were not named, including several specimens of peripatus - a form of velvet worm - which had never previously been recorded as existing in the Woodhaugh Gardens.
They are apparently part of a species also known elsewhere in Dunedin, but not yet scientifically described.
Many velvet worm species in New Zealand had yet to be described, as well as many butterflies, weevils and flies, including in the order Diptera.
''Currently, there is no paid worker on the New Zealand Diptera,'' he said.
''There is a unique insect fauna which evolved in New Zealand in isolation, and fewer and fewer trained taxonomists are left to describe it.''
The study of evolution and ecology suggested that ''the other animals and plants are our relatives and that a key aim of life should be to co-exist with them in an ecosystem''.
''The other animals and plants are much more important and valuable than our religions, culture, philosophy and business values recognise.''
THE CHALLENGE
SCIENTIFICALLY DESCRIBING AND NAMING THE COUNTRY'S DISTINCTIVE INSECT SPECIES, AS NUMBERS DWINDLE THROUGH HABITAT CHANGE
What is your research about?
As habitats are destroyed, large numbers of undescribed species will go extinct before they have been discovered, let alone described.
I want to publish biosystematic monographs on New Zealand insects and help to save native plant and animal habitats increasingly at risk.
Why is it important?
My research sorts out correct from incorrect names and reveals reasons for enormous geographical variation within single species related to mimicry complexes, and melanism - the latter involving black coloration resulting from coldness at higher latitudes and altitudes.
I have worked out the full life history for every species of NZ solitary wasp and described all the larvae.
What is the most interesting aspect of your research?
The colour of adult native spider wasps relates closely to temperatures earlier encountered in pupa form, with red colour reflecting warmer conditions and black resulting from colder temperatures.
What is unique about your research?
Almost all of New Zealand's solitary wasps are found in no other country.
SNAPSHOT
• Anthony Harris, age 70.
• Occupation: Entomologist, honorary curator of entomology, Otago Museum.
• Qualifications: BSc, MSc (Hons) in zoology, Victoria University of Wellington.
• Work history: Appointed invertebrate zoologist at Otago Museum, 1974, retiring from the post in 1999. Has since been an honorary curator at the museum.
• Proudest: Completing a comprehensive study of New Zealand's solitary wasps, involving about 45 species; further research is continuing.
• Publishing record: Author of three books on solitary wasps and more than 150 scientific articles; has penned the weekly Otago Daily Times Nature File column for the past 29 years, producing more than 1500 columns in that time on a wide range of natural history topics.
