Bat hitchiking, mealybug milking, and defensive bleeding – the creepiest crawlies and freakiest fliers of Aotearoa are duking it out in an annual popularity contest.
Voting for the New Zealand Bug of the Year closes at midnight on Monday 17 Feb.
The SMC asked experts to back a bug and share some fun facts.
Julia Palmer, Research Associate at Plant & Food Research, comments:
“Although not technically a ‘bug,’ the Peripatus (or Ngāokeoke, the New Zealand Velvet Worm) is a top contender for Bug of the Year 2025!
“This incredible species could represent the peak of evolution—a living testament to the gods’ perfect creation. These fascinating creatures have remained virtually unchanged for the last 500 million years, bridging the gap between worms and insects with their long velvet bodies and stumpy pairs of legs.
“They’re often found crawling through our native bush, where they shoot jets of fluid to capture their prey! These living fossils are unlike anything else and are truly deserving of your vote for Bug of the Year!”
Dr Frank Ashwood, Post Doctoral Fellow, School of Forestry, University of Canterbury, comments:
“I’m backing the wonderful Giant Springtail for Bug of the Year 2025. Even though they’re less than 2 cm long, they’re the biggest springtails in the world – and found only in New Zealand!
“Nobody knows why they have bright yellow and orange spines all over their backs, but it’s possibly to warn off predators (they can defensively bleed if disturbed!).
“You’ll find giant springtails under logs in native bush, where they busily munch away on decaying wood and fungi, helping recycle nutrients back to the soil.
“We have no idea what their conservation status is, because nobody has assessed it. But since they’re only found in undisturbed native forest, there’s a good chance that they’re at risk wherever the bush is being cut down.
“So, a vote for the giant springtail to win bug of the year is a vote to help raise conservation awareness of these remarkable little giants!”
Dr Julia Kasper, Lead Curator Invertebrates, Museum of NZ Te Papa Tongarewa, comments:
“My favorite nominee for the bug of the year 2025 competition is definitely the bat fly (Mystacinobia zelandica). It is endemic to New Zealand and one of our weirdest insect in Aotearoa!
“While living on bats, unlike its cousin from overseas, it doesn’t suck blood of its hosts but gently grooms the fur and cleans up the roost. In return the bat fly can hitch a ride and strive in the very warm roost with endless guano to devour.
“You must know, this fly is blind and has no wings but specially adapted long bristly claws to cling to the bat’s fur. This is a perfect match.
“Strikingly this extraordinary fly was unknown to us until the 1950s, well hidden in bat roosts.
“Our short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) that feeds on insects and pollen low on the ground but lives up in hollow trees is nationally threatened. As an intermediate result, the cute little bat fly is under threat too! Without bats to generate heat inside the enclosed space of a roost, bat-flies soon die.
“So, it’s mainly gravid females staying on the bat, ensuring they can start a new colony should the bats abandon their roost. There they would lay eggs that look like flowers in the guano in a shared nursery.
“A bat fly colony is almost like a hive with a division of labor. What is more, it is believed that older males that have already mated guard the colony by producing sound, possibly to deter bats as normally those won’t say no to a delicious fly.”
Dr Phil Sirvid, Curator Invertebrates, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, comments:
“I’m on Team Bat Fly (Mystacinobia zelandica) this year because it’s quite literally bat s**t crazy on so many levels.
“To start with, it is a wonderfully weird looking insect. This is a blind, wingless, and almost spider-like fly living in roosts of lesser short-tailed bats. The flies live in colonies and depend on the bats to provide warmth and food. There are bat flies overseas that feed on bat blood, but our bat flies feed on bat poop instead.
“Bat fly eggs need temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius to develop, so the heat generated by the bats is critical. If the bats were to abandon the roost, the bat fly colony will perish. That’s why whenever a bat leaves the roost for any reason, there are usually several female bat flies that are ready to lay eggs hanging on tight. If the bats are leaving for good rather than just foraging, this means the bat flies can start a new colony.
“Bat fly females also do most of the grooming of colony members in what is quite a messy environment. Older males can produce a high-pitched sound that bats don’t like, which keeps the bats away from the fly colony.
“Under the New Zealand Threat Classification System these insects are classed as At Risk and Declining. They are also completely dependent on bats for their survival. If the bats died out, so would these awesomely weird insects.”
Dr Leilani Walker, curator of entomology at Auckland War Memorial Museum, comments:
“The Auckland Museum is officially supporting the batfly (Mystacinobia zelandica) but I’m afraid that as an arachnologist I’m going to have to break ranks and back the trapdoor spider, Cantuaria johnsi.
“These spiders dig burrows into a range of soil types (even bird droppings) and construct a trapdoor or “lid” over their hobbit holes. And, with the greatest affection, they are little nightmare hobbits; they’re long-lived, stout and prefer to stick to themselves (although males are known to go on the odd adventure). Also like hobbits, they can be tempted out by the promise of food, flipping their trapdoors open at a moment’s notice. That said, sometimes the beetle on the front doorstep is attached to the end of the rope and sometimes the other end of that rope is attached to an eager arachnologist. Whose trap is it now?
“Under our conservation status categories, the broader Cantuaria group fall out as “data deficient” or “naturally uncommon”. The former because we simply don’t know the extent of their whereabouts and populations (as is the case for many of our native spiders!) while the latter is because their ranges may be limited by their sedentary nature (unlike many other spiders, their young don’t “balloon” by letting out a trail of silk to get swept up in the wind). While they’re not officially considered “at risk” they’re vulnerable to the same sorts of things that threaten our other native fauna and flora: land use change, climate change and pest species. This is extra challenging because there are huge gaps in our understanding of their ecology.
“So, if you too like keeping to yourself and getting food delivered to your door (or would just like to support these secretive creatures), vote trapdoor spider for Bug of the Year 2025.”
Dr Fiona Cross, Arachnologist, School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury, comments:
“As someone known as Dr Spider, you might correctly predict that my vote is for Pūngāwerewere, the trapdoor spider.
“This is a spider that can help us think about some of the tiny worlds all around us, even worlds that we can’t see. We walk past these worlds each day. And yet, in those tiny worlds, a lot of good is being done.
“Imagine what our world would look like without spiders. Our world would be overrun with insects! But quietly, in the confines of their dark lairs, trapdoor spiders all around us are waiting for opportunities to snag their unsuspecting prey.
“They are some of the unseen heroes of the spider world and they are also long lived; some of the females may live for 25 years or even longer.
“As a child, I was afraid of spiders, but even back then I thought that trapdoor spiders were OK.
“Their superpower is that they are extremely hard to find, and most of their lives are spent away from others. They dig burrows in the ground and many cover the burrow entrance with a door that they hide underneath, using material that helps the door to blend in with the surrounding environment. They aren’t the sorts of spiders that are found in the open, hanging out in their webs all day. Their secretive nature can help make trapdoor spiders interesting and mysterious.
“Even better, we have some special trapdoor species here in Aotearoa. For example, Cantuaria johnsi is a trapdoor species that is only found in Nelson, and Cantuaria dendyi is only found in Banks Peninsula and Christchurch. Neither of these species are threatened, but we should ensure this remains that way. They have their own special place in Aotearoa, like our birds and plants.”
Professor Phil Lester, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington— Te Herenga Waka, comments:
“Who is my pick for Bug of the Year? We entomologists often specialise in a particular group—and mine is social insects. So, of course, the best by far is the Southern Ant (Chelaner antarcticus).
“There are so many reasons why it should be the clear winner. It is probably New Zealand’s most common native ant, found throughout the country. And it used to be even more abundant.
“In 1890, George Hudson wrote about their annual mating flights. Around the beginning of April, enormous numbers of these ants would emerge from the ground. Everything—including the soil, logs, fences, and spider webs—was covered in newly produced, winged queens and males. They were so abundant that an audible humming filled the air. Dense flights of millions of winged ants would halt horse-drawn carts and their occupants. These swarms, flying 2–3 metres off the ground, would mate, land, shed their wings, and disappear into the grasslands to start new colonies.
“Southern ants also farm and ‘milk’ other insects, such as sap-sucking mealybugs. They attack and eat other insects, using a powerful venom as a weapon. They are also likely to be a species complex—a group of morphologically similar species currently lumped into one.
“While social insects are clearly the best, I’d have to admit there are others on the list that are deserving of awe. The bat fly (Mystacinobia zelandica) is a particularly special species. Elsewhere in the world, bat flies are parasitic, drinking bat blood—even vampire bats have bat flies that drink vampire bat blood. But our New Zealand bat flies are much friendlier and more laid-back. Instead of drinking blood, they live alongside bats and have evolved to eat bat dung, helping to clean up bat roosts. They also seem to be semi-social: when researchers tried to rear individual bat flies alone, the lonely flies would sink into the moist, deep food (i.e., bat crap) and die.
“We have a wonderful insect fauna! These are just a small number of our many fine species, which are all well worth celebrating.”
Brian Smith, Freshwater Ecologist, NIWA, comments:
“The yellow mayfly should be celebrated as perhaps the most beautiful mayfly in Aotearoa New Zealand, if not the world. Draped in vibrant yellow, the sexually immature adult stands out in stunning contrast against the muted greens of its native forest surroundings.
“But this piriwai’s uniqueness extends beyond its alluring appearance. It is the sole species in its genus, and the only representative of the exclusively Gondwanan family Ameletopsidae in Aotearoa. Piriwai really does represent.
“Adults lead a very short life. They are unable to eat, and the female only has a few days to find a mate and deposit her impressive clutch of up to 8,000 eggs back into the stream.
“In its aquatic nymph stage, piriwai is a formidable predator. With lightning speed, the nymph ambushes and devours unsuspecting aquatic insects, employing powerful jaws concealed beneath a comically oversized head. This striking duality between the delicate, transient beauty of the adult and the predatory ferocity of the juvenile presents a fascinating paradox: a creature that is both a fleeting symbol of elegance and yet was a ruthless hunter.
“Our waterways boast an extraordinary legacy of uniqueness with species of mayfly, stonefly, and caddisfly found nowhere else on earth. These insects are indicators of waterway wellbeing, vital to the health and balance of freshwater ecosystems, and the first to disappear as water quality degrades.
“This nomination aims to shine a light on these overlooked gems, celebrating their beauty and raising awareness about their indispensable role in maintaining ecological health. Let’s champion the tiny, the vital, and the irreplaceable.”
Dr Morgane Merien, Entomologist; and science communicator at Canterbury Museum, comments:
“My pick for Bug of the Year 2025 is without a doubt the longest insect in New Zealand – Argosarchus horridus (horridus meaning bristly in Latin, not horrible!).
“At a whopping 20cm in length, the New Zealand giant stick insect is a gentle giant of the bug world. They spend their days hanging out on plants, pretending to be a branch and eating nearby foliage.
“Like other stick insects they are masters of camouflage, easily blending into their habitat and avoiding predators. The resemblance to plants doesn’t stop there, even their eggs look like seeds!
“Females can reproduce with and without males, choosing when it suits them. For all these reasons and more, the New Zealand giant stick insect should be crowned Bug of the Year 2025!”