My New Zealand Ladybird report

We have been learning about minibeasts  in our class as part of science. We have been creating imformation reports on a minibeast of our choice. The minibeast we chose had to live in NZ/Aotearoa. Here is my writing. I worked with Alaska for this work.

    Amazing 

Aotearoa/New Zealand

  Mumutawa/ladybirds             

 What are Mumutawa/ladybirds?

Mumutawa/ladybirds are little kata/insects. They were brought to New Zealand.
Mumutawa/ladybirds are also called Farmers’ Friends because they help farmers
get rid of pests. The orange spotted ladybird is also known as Mumutawa and
Coccinella leonine. The Harlequin ladybug is native to NZ. They kaiao/live up to
2-3 years. They’re named Mumutawa/ladybirds after Lady Mary

( Mother of Jesus ) because off her red cloak that she wore in kōwhaiwhai/paintings.
There are many different types of Mumutawa/ladybirds. The Harlequin ladybug is
A.K.A Harmonia axyridis. The orange spotted ladybird is not threatened.
The Harlequin Mumutawa/ladybirds are 5 to 8 mm. 

                                                Habitat

 Mumutawa/ladybirds live in both North and South Island. Sometimes you
can see them in your mahi mara/garden rerere/flying around and being free.
Remember don’t hurt them because they help you. Som

LADYBUGS!!!e live in warmer places than others. 

Mumutawa/ladybirds live in shrubs, trees, mahi mara/gardens, fields, huahake/crops,
parks. Some even live in wharepuni/houses. They also live in native habitats. 

                  

                           Social Behaviour

Some mumutawa/ladybirds are takitahi/individual.
They only pāhikohiko/interact with others of their kind during breeding.
Each kind of mumutawa/ladybirds has its own odor for attracting  a mate.
Some are partly takitahi/individual and gather in large groups. This is during
takurua/winter or while hekenga/migrating. Mumutawa/ladybirds mate in
aroaromahana/spring and early matiti/summer. The male grips the
tuawahine/female from behind and holds on kita/tight.

                                    Feeding time

Mumutawa/ladybirds love to eat just like us. Tuatahi/First of all
Mumutawa/ladybirds are mostly carnivores (Carnivores only eat meat) but
some can also be omnivores ( Omnivores eat both meat and plants ). Carnivores
Mumutawa/ladybirds eat mites, white flies, kuturiki/aphids and scale kata/insects.
Mumutawa/ladybirds that are omnivores eat  mites, white paturongo/flies,
kuturiki/aphids and scaled kata/insects and they eat /pollen and mushrooms.
Mumutawa/ladybirds eat their pārurenga/prey alive. Mumutawa/ladybirds love
kuturiki/aphids.

                                 

                          How do they breed

Mumutawa/ladybirds lay up to 40 eggs at a time. Mumutawa/ladybirds lay
once or more times a year. The eggs of the ladybug is either orange or yellow.
These eggs will hatch within 4-10 days. Ladybirds lay their eggs in clusters or rows
on the underside of a leaf, usually where kuturiki/aphids have gathered.
Mumutawa/ladybirds usually  breed in May but they mate in Koanga/spring and
early Raumati/summer. 

                                                   Threats

The kapatau/threats of the Mumutawa/ladybirds are 11 spotted ladybugs,
poraka/frogs,wasps,spiders,dragonflies,birds. Manu/Birds are the main predators.
Mumutawa/ladybirds will hide in shrubs, trees, grass,and more.The bright colours
of the ladybug are telling predators to tua o tāwauwau/back off!! Also
Mumutawa/ladybirds ooze yucky smelly  toxic liquid that will also tell predators to
tua o tāwauwau/back off!!! Other konihi/predators are assassin bugs, parasitic
wasps, and ants. 

                              

Ending

This is some pārongo/information about Mumutawa/ladybirds.
Remember they help your mahi mara/garden so don’t uruhua/hurt them.
We hope you now know more about Mumutawa/ladybirds and make sure you
kaikanohi/look after them!

Ladybug life cycle

 Ladybug eggs

Ladybug Larvae

ladybug pupa

Mumutawa/ladybirds!!!!

My Animation

Today we were learning to do an animation on google slides. We had to use images and we had to change some of the code to make it work. We had to make the animation loop by changing the word false to true inside the code. In the code I also changed the moving part to make it go faster. 
I hope you enjoyed my animation.

Weta Imformation Report Term 3

This is a piece of writing that we did for our mini beasts topic when we were learning about weta.

We had to write an information report on this insect.

Click here to see our success criteria.

Weta Information       pūrongorongo/report

What is a Weta?

Weta are a classified insect that is native to New Zealand/Aoteroa. They are known as the children of Tane. They are invertebrates which means that their kōhiwihiwi/skeleton is on the outside of their body. The Māori think that Weta are ugly so they called them Punga ( spirit of ugliness ). Weta have curved tusks and spiky legs. They breathe through their exoskeleton. There are five main types of Weta: Ground Weta, Tusked Weta, Tree Weta, Cave Weta and Giant Weta but there are more than 100 species of Weta. All the species in New Zealand cannot patu rango/fly. They are nocturnal so they sleep during the day and play and do stuff at night. Their ears are on their front legs just below their kneecaps. Giant Weta are the heaviest aitanga pepeke/insects in the world! They grow up to 10cm and weigh up to 30g.

                                                     Habitat

In the winter some Weta can tio/freeze completely, unfreeze and still survive. Tree Weta lives in holes in trees. They live in a range of taiao/environments. Ground Weta live in tārua/burrows in the ground. Cave Weta live in sea coast caves and hollow tree trunks. Tusked Weta live on the ground like ground Weta. Giant Weta live in island sanctuaries. Some Weta live in rotten logs and maybe even in your wood pile.

                                 Feeding Behaviour

Most types of Weta are omnivores. As Weta are moeao/nocturnal they feed at night. Tree and giant Weta are mostly herbivores and they like to eat leaves, lichen, seed heads, fruit and flowers. Ground and tusked Weta are carnivorous and they eat tōririki/small invertebrates, paranoke/worms and kararua/snails. Some Weta eat other aitanga pepeke/insects but they don’t eat other Weta. 

                                    Breeding/reproducing

Weta lay their eggs  at night because they are nocturnal. Spring and summer are normally the time Weta mate. Weta lay about five-six hua hei hei/eggs at a time. Overall in their lifetime they have about 300 hei hei/eggs which compared to us humans is a lot! Female Weta have an ovipositor that they stick into the ground when they lay eggs. Female ground Weta are known to build a special rūma/chamber in their burrow and care for their eggs until they have hatched. About eight months after the weta eggs are layed they hatch and grow.

                                                   

                                                           Social Lives

Tree Weta is the most social out of the rima/five main types of Weta. They are the most likely Weta to go to Weta hōtēra/hotels. Tree Weta talk by scraping their back hōkarikari/legs against the side of their body. When they do that it makes a chirping sound.

                                      Threats/predators

The threats of a Weta is when human kōpiripiri/squash them either on purpose or by mistake. Birds, reptiles, rats, cats, hedgehogs and bats are some  of the Weta predators. To protect themselves they can hide in crevasse. Weta ringaringa/wave their makao/spiky hind legs to frighten and/or scratch humans, annoyances and predators. Female tree Weta can look pretty whakamataku/scary, too. They have an ovipositor for laying eggs, but it looks like a very large stinger so some people stay away from them even though they can’t sting! To help them we can watch where we are stepping  and if we find a Weta on a path we can put it in a bush so it won’t get squashed. The main thing we need to do to keep weta alive is to look after their habitat.

This is some pārongo/information about Weta. You might want to try and build a Weta hotel and see if any Weta come and stay at it. I hope you now matatau/know more about Weta and make sure you kaikanohi/look after them. 

Na/By Indi