On May 4 2017 Myrtle Rust (Austropuccinia psidii) was first detected in the North Island of New Zealand (Beresford et al. 2018). Its arrival had been anticipated; New Zealander’s had nervously watched the relentless spread of this rust as it skipped across the world from the Amazon to Florida (USA), […]
Yearly Archives: 2020
7 posts
The Chatham Island Conservation Board met for their September 2020 meeting in Room One, Te One School. Attending the meeting were Board members Judy Kamo (Chair), Susan Thorpe, Mana Cracknell, Di Gregory-Hunt, Trescia Lawson and Peter de Lange. Representing the Department of Conservation was Tryphena Cracknell Operations Manager, now six […]
The Chatham Island Conservation Board met for their August 2020 meeting at the Kaingāroa, Playgroup, buildings. Attending the meeting were Board members Judy Kamo (Chair), Susan Thorpe, Mana Cracknell, Amanda Seymour, Di Gregory-Hunt (by phone), and Trescia Lawson. Representing the Department of Conservation was Tryphena Cracknell Operations Manager. Also, in […]
The lichenized mycobiota of the Chatham Islands is still poorly known. Since 2008 there has been a major effort to collect lichens from the islands. From those collections, lichenologists working in the UNITEC herbarium, Unitec New Zealand Institute of Technology campus in Auckland, are beginning to make a number of […]
Korora, or little penguin (Eudyptula minor), is the only penguin species currently breeding at the Chatham Islands, however that has not always been the case. Two extinct penguins endemic to the Chatham Island have recently been described. While not breeding, several other species of penguin also occasionally visit the islands.
The tiny, secretive marsh crake (Porzana pusilla affinis) known to iwi as koitareke or kotoreke is known from the Chatham Islands on the basis of one specimen collected by Henry H. Travers in 1872 and a 1997 report of a bird calling in response to a tape played at Te […]
Last September a wander along the shore of Te Whanga discovered what seems to be the first recorded occurrence of Coprosma mite (Acalitus cottieri) for the Chatham Islands. The mites are microscopic but their feeding activity distorts and damages the flower buds of Coprosma species so forming conspicuous spherical galls. […]