Discover a tiny world of insects in your backyard in this touring exhibition from Canterbury Museum.
A bright pink katydid, a fly that might be the food of the future and a beetle that could be unique to the South Island all feature in Bugs in your backyard. The exhibition includes over 30 insects from Canterbury Museum’s collection of about 125,000 pinned specimens. The bugs, which are drawn from a range of insect groups including moths, beetles, wasps, flies and bees, are all found in Canterbury.
These include the soldier fly, which is being tested as a possible food source, a distinctive Barbie pink Katydid and a sand scarab beetle that lives around the braided rivers of the South Island.
You can learn all about the insects and hunt for bugs in a special diorama created for the exhibition.
Green soldier fly (Beris sp.)
Family: Stratiomyidae
Insects in the Diptera order of insects are often regarded with disgust, but flies play an important role in pollination and in helping rotting material to decompose. Green soldier flies are important native pollinators. Their larvae can be found in rotting vegetation.
Image from Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, CC BY 4.0
Location: Kaiapoi Library, 176 Williams Street, Kaiapoi
For more information: www.canterburymuseum.com/visit/whats-on/bugs-in-your-backyard
Related content
For more on insects, see these key articles:
- What’s so special about insects?
- Insect taxonomy
- Aquatic insect life
- Insects – physical characteristics
- Wētā
- Glow-worms
- Label the insect activity
- All about insects – PLD webinar
- Butterflies
- Moths
Discover how insects use their antennae in this fascinating article.
Our article Living World – Insects, provides links to the wide range of Science Learning Hub resources for teachers related to insects in the Living World strand of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Visit our We love bugs! Pinterest board for links to more resources and community activities.
