Lepidoptera Club Volunteer at Museum

‘Explorama’ is a biannual exhibition held at Auckland War Memorial Museum that allows participants to get behind the scenes of the Natural Sciences Collection and take on the role of an enquiring scientist. The current exhibition explores the theme of ‘movement’ under the guidance of the museum’s curators and collection managers.

Staff and students from the Lepidoptera Club at the College volunteered to run the Moths and Butterflies stand at the exhibition last weekend, educating the public about the plight of these insects in New Zealand and outlining how we can all help.

The students involved with the club have learnt a great deal about the plight of insects and, in particular, the monarch butterfly over the last few years with the establishment of a butterfly garden at the College. Last year the College was one of only ten gardens nationwide to be awarded a National Butterfly Habitat Award. Over the last three summers, the gardens have been filled with the signature orange and black monarch butterflies and their green and gold chrysalises as a result of the Lepidoptera Club protecting and releasing over 300 first generation butterflies into the gardens.

The students who manned the stand at the museum did a great job fielding questions from the public. Along with teacher-in-charge, Mrs Xanthe Noble, the students also took part in the release of a large number of butterflies into the Domain to promote the national tagging project being run nationwide.

Lepidoptera

Butterflies and moths are members of the insect order Lepidoptera, from the Greek meaning ‘scaly wings.'