New Zealand bug of the year: moth named Avatar after mining threat crowned winner | New Zealand

A small endangered butterfly, named after the Avatar films due to the project of mining activity threatening its main habitat, was crowned insect of the year in New Zealand.

The Avatar butterfly won handily, taking 5,192 of the more than 11,000 votes cast. He won 2,269 more votes than his runner-up, the giant mahoenui wētā, one of the largest insects in the world.. Other contenders included the wonderfully spiky hellraiser mite, the heaviest spider in the country – the black tunnel web – and a giant earthworm that glows in the dark.

THE Avatar of Arctesthes The butterfly belongs to the family Geometridae and is endemic to New Zealand. It is a diurnal butterfly with brown and marigold-spotted wings that lives only on the Denniston Tableland and near Mount Rochfort on the west coast of the South Island.

The butterfly was discovered in 2012 by entomologist Brian Patrick during a “bioblitz” – an intense scientific survey aimed at identifying species in a specific area – organized by the conservation group Forest & Bird. The organization then held a butterfly naming competition, with the winner – Avatar – being chosen to highlight the butterfly’s plight.

In the fictional world of James Cameron’s Avatar films, a unique ecosystem is in danger of being destroyed by a mining company. In New Zealand, the ecologically important Denniston Plateau is the subject of a proposed mining expansion which, if approved, would result in the excavation of a significant area for a large open-cast coal mine. The proposal is now making its way into a new regulatory regime that could help speed up approval of controversial mining and infrastructure projects.

“It’s a species called Avatar – which was created to warn us about mining – that is now facing real-world extinction thanks to fast-tracked approvals on protected public lands,” said Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest & Bird and who backed the butterfly to win the country’s annual Bug of the Year competition.

Alongside Forest & Bird, which has hundreds of thousands of followers online, groups and individuals have taken to social media to discuss the butterfly and highlight its precarious existence.

“This is a special type of creature, no less important than a kākāpō or a panda, and we cannot afford to dismiss it,” Toki said. “I think there’s a point where New Zealanders feel very uncomfortable about planned extinctions.”

Mining company Bathurst Resources, behind the plan to mine the Denniston Plateau, says it would limit its impact on landscapes and ecosystems and seek to displace species or “offset” impacts on biodiversity. Resources Minister Shane Jones previously told the Guardian that opening New Zealand to more mining projects was necessary to boost the economy and boost employment, even if it came with environmental trade-offs.

The Entomological Society of New Zealand has launched the 2023 Insect of the Year competition, inspired by Forest & Bird’s hugely popular Bird of the Year competition.

Toki said it was “delicious” that other groups wanted to amplify New Zealand’s species.

The popularity of the Bug Award continues to grow, with this year’s competition generating the highest number of votes so far. Each competitor has a “champion”: volunteers, including enthusiasts, museums or environmental groups, who promote their favorite insect. The winner’s champion decides how public donations generated by the competition will be spent.

Dr Jenny Jandt, a senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Otago who is helping to coordinate the competition, said it brought communities together while showcasing New Zealand’s species.

“We have such unique wildlife here in New Zealand,” she said. “We really wanted to draw attention to some of these things and say… that the insect world is bigger than the sandflies that bite you and the bumblebees that pollinate your garden. »