Insects are one of the largest and most diverse groups of creatures on Earth. There are more than a million known species, yet they all share common physical characteristics.
In this activity, students use online and/or paper resources to identify and label some of the characteristics using two well known native insects – the chorus cicada (Amphipsalta zelandica) and the tree wētā (Hemideina thoracica).
The activity provides practice with the science capability ‘Interpret representations’.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
- identify and label some of the key physical characteristics of insects
- use literacy skills to learn about the physical characteristics and associated terminology
- make comparisons between the cicada and tree wētā.
Download the Word file (see link below).
Related content
In these article discover more about wētā and the Cave wētā.
Explore what is so special about insects and New Zealand’s aquatic insects.
Discover the wide range of our resources on insects, or explore the range of content under our invertebrates topic.
Learn more about insect taxonomy and its importance.
Activity ideas
Your students can learn more about how the Linnaean classification system works with the activity Insect mihi. Students write a formal introduction for an insect species of their choice, including information about the insect’s relationship to other animals and also the land.
This activity shows you how to collect moths, and this activity tells you how to rear them to observe their life cycle.
Useful link
Read the School Journal Level 2 August 2019 article Wētā.
Use the Te Papa collection Kihikihi cicadas and their sounds to find out more about the 34 species of cicadas of Aotearoa New Zealand. Five of these species are then further divided into several subspecies, to give 42 unique species and subspecies of New Zealand cicada.
