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Grant to Study Rediscovered Insect

Posted on: Friday, 16 November 2007, 15:00 CST

By STAFF, Herald

Mackenzie College's Katherine Hill is one of six young scientists granted a summer study scholarship. She will study New Zealand's rarest invertebrate (insect) the Canterbury knobbled weevil which was believed extinct until recently rediscovered at Burkes Pass.

She was selected by the Royal Society of New Zealand and Bayer New Zealand will fund her.

Working with guidance from Lincoln University staff some of the time, she has been funded for a six week study.

Katherine said there were benefits in working with a host organisation on a local conservation issue.

She will carry out video analysis of the weevils to find out about their diet and use sampling for population estimates. Katherine will also look for other isolated populations.

While other year-11 students will be enjoying a holiday, one of her tasks will be inspecting the stomachs of hedgehogs to see if they are a threat to the endangered species.

Katherine has been sponsored several thousand dollars to fund her work which she hopes will help manage the species, raise awareness and a sense of ownership among local people. She hopes this could include management of the weevil's host plant, speargrass.

Her results and conclusions will be shared with and assessed by Lincoln University. And her findings will later be presented to the district council, Environment Canterbury and the Burkes Pass heritage group.

Source: Timaru Herald

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