Biosecurity NZ is stepping up efforts on Auckland’s North Shore as more yellow-legged hornets are detected.
A local Conservationist is encouraging residents to set up simple homemade traps to try to capture these hornets because they pose a real risk to our NZ agriculture & honey industries! Every effort helps. 🐝💛 If you think you see or capture one, Biosecurity encourage people to notify them of finds & they'll come to try collect a sample! #yellowleggedhornet #biosecurity #newzealand
Isaac Freeman
and 1 other
boosted
EEK!! A live hornet nest has just been found (and destroyed) in Auckland. This is a big species of stinging wasp. We really don't want these to establish.
Please keep an extra careful eye out for unusual wasps, especially if you're in the Auckland area.
You can post photos on iNaturalist NZ (iNaturalist app or iNaturalist.nz website) if you're not sure what species you've got. If you are sure, please don't delay and call Biosecurity NZ straight away at 0800 809 966 or use their online reporting tool at report.mpi.govt.nz/pest/.
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/news/media-releases/public-urged-to-look-out-for-hornets-in-auckland
EEK!! A live hornet nest has just been found (and destroyed) in Auckland. This is a big species of stinging wasp. We really don't want these to establish.
Please keep an extra careful eye out for unusual wasps, especially if you're in the Auckland area.
You can post photos on iNaturalist NZ (iNaturalist app or iNaturalist.nz website) if you're not sure what species you've got. If you are sure, please don't delay and call Biosecurity NZ straight away at 0800 809 966 or use their online reporting tool at report.mpi.govt.nz/pest/.
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/news/media-releases/public-urged-to-look-out-for-hornets-in-auckland
Angela Antunovic
boosted
Here's a new weed to watch out for in NZ: long-flowered Veldt grass, Ehrharta longiflora.
I found one in flower yesterday. It's an annual relative of the now widespread perennial Veldt grass, Ehrharta erecta, which the NZ Plant Conservation several years ago voted the worst environmental weed in NZ. That's because it chokes out semi-shaded areas in bush where a lot of native herbaceous plants like to grow.
Long-flowered Veldt grass may not be as bad, since it's a fast-growing Spring annual, but still, do we want to take that risk?
At the moment the only place in all of the South Island that it's known is around the base of Hackthorne Road in Christchurch. Some effort has been made to contain it but the main property that it's on doesn't want the council on her land so it keeps spreading here.
If you find it anywhere else, that's important. Note the distinctive pinkish bracts on the flowers.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/310728311
#weeds#InvasivePlants#Biosecurity#NZ #botany #Poaceae #grasses
A screenshot from iNaturalist of the current distribution of long-flowered Veldt grass in New Zealand. It's only at one small site in Christchurch city in the South Island and a small area in Whanganui in the North Island. This is how weeds get started.
A photo I took yesterday of long-flowered Veldt grass in flower. The flowers are long and thin and green with pink bracts.
For a full-res version of this, go to https://inaturalist.nz/observations/310728311
Here's a new weed to watch out for in NZ: long-flowered Veldt grass, Ehrharta longiflora.
I found one in flower yesterday. It's an annual relative of the now widespread perennial Veldt grass, Ehrharta erecta, which the NZ Plant Conservation several years ago voted the worst environmental weed in NZ. That's because it chokes out semi-shaded areas in bush where a lot of native herbaceous plants like to grow.
Long-flowered Veldt grass may not be as bad, since it's a fast-growing Spring annual, but still, do we want to take that risk?
At the moment the only place in all of the South Island that it's known is around the base of Hackthorne Road in Christchurch. Some effort has been made to contain it but the main property that it's on doesn't want the council on her land so it keeps spreading here.
If you find it anywhere else, that's important. Note the distinctive pinkish bracts on the flowers.
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/310728311
#weeds#InvasivePlants#Biosecurity#NZ #botany #Poaceae #grasses
A screenshot from iNaturalist of the current distribution of long-flowered Veldt grass in New Zealand. It's only at one small site in Christchurch city in the South Island and a small area in Whanganui in the North Island. This is how weeds get started.
A photo I took yesterday of long-flowered Veldt grass in flower. The flowers are long and thin and green with pink bracts.
For a full-res version of this, go to https://inaturalist.nz/observations/310728311