Bugs in your backyard
05 January 2026 - 03 March 2026
Region(s): Canterbury
Type(s): exhibitions
Discover a tiny world of insects in your backyard with this exhibition touring Canterbury.
A bright pink katydid, a fly that might be the food of the future and a beetle that could be unique to the South Island all feature in the Bugs in Your Backyard exhibition. Include are over 30 insects from Canterbury Museum’s collection of about 125,000 pinned specimens. The bugs, which are drawn from a range of insect groups including moths, beetles, wasps, flies and bees, are all found in Canterbury.
All about insects
Insects offer stimulating content with which teachers can feed student curiosity and grow science knowledge and capabilities.
These include the soldier fly, which is being tested as a possible food source, a distinctive Barbie pink Katydid and a sand scarab beetle that lives around the braided rivers of the South Island.
You can learn all about the insects and hunt for bugs in a special diorama created for the exhibition.
This Canterbury Museum touring exhibition will travel to libraries and community centres across the region.
Related content
For more on insects, see these key articles:
All about insects – PLD webinar
Discover how insects use their antennae in this fascinating article.
Our article Living World – Insects, provides links to the wide range of Science Learning Hub resources for teachers related to insects in the Living World strand of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Visit our We love bugs! Pinterest board for links to more resources and community activities.
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