New Zealand bug of the year: moth named Avatar after mining threat crowned winner | New Zealand
A critically endangered tiny moth is named after the Avatar movies for its proposed effect. Mining activity that threatens primary habitat has been crowned New Zealand’s mistake of the year.
The avatar moth won by a landslide, receiving 5,192 votes out of more than 11,000 votes cast. It received 2,269 more votes than the runner-up, mahhoenui giant wētā, one of the world’s largest insects.. Other contenders included the extraordinarily spiny Hellraiser mite, the black tunnel web, the heaviest spider in the country, and a giant glow-in-the-dark worm.
Arctestes’ avatar The moth is in the family Geometridae and is native to New Zealand. It is a day-flying moth with mottled brown and marigold wings and lives only on the Denniston Plateau on the west coast of the South Island and nearby Mount Rochfort.
The moth was discovered by entomologist Brian Patrick in 2012 during a “bioblitz”, an intensive scientific survey to identify species in a particular area, conducted by the conservation group Forest & Bird. The organization then held a contest to name the moth, and the winning Avatar was chosen to highlight the plight of moths.
In the fictional world of James Cameron’s Avatar films, a unique ecosystem faces destruction from a mining company. The ecologically important Denniston Plateau in New Zealand subject to mining expansion proposal This, if approved, would lead to a significant area being excavated for a large open-pit coal mine. The proposal is working its way through a new regulatory regime that could see divisive mining and infrastructure projects fast-tracked for approval.
“This is a species called Avatar, created to warn us about mining, now facing real-world extinction through rapid approvals on public reserves,” said Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest & Bird, who backed the trust to win the country’s annual insect of the year competition.
Alongside Forest & Bird, which has hundreds of thousands of online followers, groups and individuals have also taken to social media to discuss the moth and highlight its precarious existence.
“This is a special kind of creature, no less important than the kākāpō or panda, and we can’t afford to just erase it,” Toki said. “I think there’s a point where New Zealanders are very uncomfortable with planned extinctions.”
Bathurst Resources, the mining company behind the proposal to mine the Denniston Plateau, says it would limit its impact on landscapes and ecosystems and seek to displace species or “offset” biodiversity impacts. Resources minister Shane Jones has previously told the Guardian that opening up New Zealand to more mining projects is necessary to stimulate the economy and boost employment, even if it results in environmental trade-offs.
New Zealand Entomological Society launched mistake of the year The 2023 competition, inspired by Forest & Bird’s hugely popular bird of the year competition.
Toki said it was “delightful” that other groups wanted to increase the number of species in New Zealand.
The bug bounty is growing in popularity, with this year’s contest receiving the highest number of votes ever. Every competitor has a “champion”; Volunteers promoting their favorite insects, including enthusiasts, museums or environmental groups. The winning champion will decide how public donations raised through the competition will be spent.
Senior zoology lecturer at the University of Otago, Dr. Jenny Jandt said the competition brought communities together while highlighting New Zealand’s species.
“We have a very unique fauna in New Zealand,” he said. “We really wanted to highlight some of these and say: The insect world is bigger than the sand flies that bite you and the bumblebees that pollinate your garden.”
