joncounts, I saw my first Ectemnius wasp yesterday, at Tārerekautuku/Yarrs Lagoon south of Lincoln, NZ. It's a northern hemisphere wasp that unexpectedly appeared in Ōtautahi-Christchurch in a suburb near the airport in February 2020. An undergraduate student at #LincolnUniversityNZ, Hannah Noley, found it when doing her insect collection for our entomology class. It's since been found south to Leeston and north to Kaiapoi, gradually spreading.
#biosecurity #insects #Hymenoptera
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/203299934
A photo of the head of a common ectemnius wasp emerging from a how it's made in a fallen tree trunk.
A map of the current known distribution of the northern hemisphere native wasp, Ectemnius continuus, now in the southern hemisphere. It's only in and around Christchurch city, New Zealand. This map from iNaturalist shows the iNaturalist records plus all occurrences from GBIF.
A map of the current known distribution of the northern hemisphere native wasp, Ectemnius continuus. It's only in and around Christchurch city, New Zealand, in the southern hemisphere. This map from iNaturalist shows the iNaturalist records plus all occurrences from GBIF.