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Termite Nomenclature Outbreak at the Museum

Grace Yee

Collection Technician, IDEA Project

In the depths of the wet collection in the entomology department at Tāmaki Paenga Hira, a termite collection was recently rediscovered that had been given to the museum by John Mackgill Kelsey in March 1975. These have recently been catalogued by our IDEA project team.

Tonny Brinkman, Sand Collector

Hugh Grenfell

Collection Technician, Natural Sciences

Sand collector Antonia 'Tonny' Brinkman generously donated 3500 sands to Auckland Museum, and her decades of collecting show that you can explore the world without going far from home.

A touch of colour

Have you ever tried colour by numbers? Well, just imagine applying colour to a large photograph with cotton wool!

Barry Brickell

The papers of Barry Brickell demonstrate the artist's all-consuming passion for pottery, steam trains, and conservation.

In praise of humble bones

The Land Vertebrate collection at Auckland Museum has more than three thousand bones from mammals, reptiles and birds. But why are bones important?

The eruption of Mt Tarawera

The Mt Tarawera eruption in 1886 is probably the most devastating eruption to occur in Aotearoa New Zealand since Polynesian settlers arrived in the 14th century.

White kiwi, French poodles, and the problem of a world in pieces

It's night on Te Hauturu o Toi, Little Barrier Island, and a half moon glows softly behind the clouds. A movement off to our left alerts us and we dive into the brush and extract our prize - a baby North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli).

Toxic sea slug

The grey side-gilled sea slug (Pleurobranchaea maculata) is commonly found around New Zealand and south eastern Australia. It was recently discovered to be deadly to humans and other animals such as dogs.

Illustrated leaves

Herbals are books containing names, descriptions and illustrations of plants; forilegia are books of floral illustrations. Auckland Museum's collection includes herbal and florilegium volumes from as early as the 16th century.

The mystery of the dragon-tree

The recent popularity of dragon-trees has meant the tree is a common sight in Auckland suburban gardens. Strangely, the trees planted in the last 20 years look very different to those planted in the city a century earlier.

Hauraki Gulf shearwaters: Globe-trotting on underwater wings

These small seabirds are one of the most amazingly engineered creatures on the face of the planet, capable of movement above and below the seas surface that we can only dream of.

Sea snakes and kraits in New Zealand

It's a common misconception that New Zealand has no snakes, but it's not the truth. Marine snakes, or sea snakes, are seen regularly in the waters around northern New Zealand.

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