Selwyn Times: August 22, 2018

SELWYN TIMES Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Wednesday August 22 2018 19
Backyard Critters
Moths come to light at night
Mike Bowie is an ecologist
who specialises in
entomology (insects
and other
invertebrates).
Each week he
introduces a
new species
found in his
backyard at
Lincoln. His column aims
to raise public awareness
of biodiversity, the variety
of living things around
us. Check out the full list
of invertebrates found at
http://naturewatch.org.
nz/projects/backyardbiodiversity-bugs-in-lincoln
ONE OF the larger and more
common moths that come to
light at night is the New Zealand
cutworm Graphania mutans.
It is one of at least 38 species in
the endemic genus Graphania.
The moth is variable in length,
15-19mm, markings and colour,
with forewings ranging from
grey, to browns and green.
Female moths lay 0.6mm
diameter eggs in batches of
between six and 200, usually in a
single layer.
Eggs are laid on a range of
plants including ryegrass, tussock,
magnolia, ecalyptus and apple.
MOTH: Graphania mutans, commonly known as the New
Zealand cutworm, is variable in length, 15-19mm, markings and
colour, with forewings ranging from grey, to browns and green. ​
Larvae emerge from eggs after
six to 12 days and will eat their
empty shell and often drop on
threads of silk to the ground to
feed on a wide variety of low
growing species.
Larva are mainly pale green
but have flecks of yellow, brown,
pink and black as they grow
in size. Their dark-coloured
breathing holes, called spiracles,
appear in a row above a white
lateral line on both sides of the
body.
Feeding stops a few days before
pupation when they usually go to
ground and eventually turn dark
brown.
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Fire rages, homes at risk
ACTIVITIES:
Future Leader
scholars (from
left to right),
Dan Ryan, Paige
Harris, Phoebe
Topp, Rachael
Phillipson and
George Letham
with children
from Hororata
Primary School.
Promoting rural well-being
RURAL well-being was the
focus of a recent event at
Hororata Primary School.
A group of Lincoln University
Future Leader scholars ran a
series of activities which aimed
to bring children and their
families together.
The school hosted several
learning sessions relating to topics
such as technology, healthy eating
and being sun smart, which took
place alongside the scholars’ more
hands-on activities.
Future Leader scholar Paige
Harris said the pupils’ families
were invited to attend the event.
“The idea was to begin creating
habits that would make each
family unit stronger and encourage
them to appreciate the
simple things in life,” she said.
“We wanted to let rural
families know they shouldn’t
feel guilty about taking time
off, in spite of the busy period
at the moment with calving and
lambing.
“In fact, it’s important to
take time off in order to be
able to work to a high standard
throughout the whole season.”
The scholars’ message about
rural wellbeing also involved
ease of access to resources if
needed, with Farmstrong and
the Mental Health Foundation
providing supplies for some of
the activities.
Miss Harris said the event was
designed to align with five key
strategies for promoting physiological
well-being –‘be active’,
‘take notice’, ‘keep learning’,
‘give’, and ‘connect’.
Pupils made cards to give to
people they loved (which corresponded
to the strategies of
‘connect’ and ‘take notice’), participated
in a gumboot throw
(‘be active’), took a quiz (‘keep
learning’), and painted a picture
representing their idea of what
‘giving’ looked like.
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