Kia Pākiki Canterbury – Mateus Detoni, social insect researcher
Mateus Detoni is a behavioural ecologist based at Lincoln University. His speciality is social insects, particularly bees and wasps. As he tells the podcast Kia Pākiki Canterbury, the term ‘social insects’ refers to insects that live and work in colonies such as ants, termites and certain species of bees and wasps. This distinguishes them from the majority of insects, which live solitary lives.
Kia Pākiki Canterbury – wasps and hornets
In this Kia Pākiki Canterbury podcast, Science Communicator Tom Goulter and co-host Associate Professor Adrian Paterson from Lincoln University interview Dr Mateus Detoni from Lincoln University.
Select here to view video transcript and copyright information.
Eusocial insects: devoted to the colony
“Many different kinds of animals can live in big family groups,” Mateus explains. “Humans do, dogs do, wolves do, lions do.” But what distinguishes social insects (or, to give the proper scientific term, eusocial or truly social insects) is the way they forgo the ability to reproduce individually. With this job delegated to a single individual, usually the queen, every other organism in the colony then works collectively as one towards the survival of the colony, which can be viewed as a single superorganism.
Common wasps in nest
Common wasps (Vespula vulgaris) are widespread in Aotearoa New Zealand. They live in ground-based nests, organised around the queen (shown in foreground).
As an example of just how dedicated social insects are to the colony, Mateus points out the way bees’ bodies are torn apart by the act of stinging predators to defend the hive. This ensures the venom gland gets left behind with the stinger, producing as much pain as possible for intruders stung by a bee. So by killing themselves, they’re ensuring the survival of the colony, Mateus explains.
This makes social insects interesting from an evolutionary biology perspective. Most species wouldn’t engage in self-destructive behaviour on behalf of their species, says Mateus, because “you’re effectively ending your ability … to pass your genes forward”. But it makes social insects incredibly successful at an ecological level.
An example Mateus gives is ants. If you could weigh every ant in the Amazon rainforest, they would weigh more than the combined biomass of every vertebrate – mammals, birds and reptiles – in the region.
Wasps: a misunderstood insect
I’ve got a colleague that says … “I’ve earned every wasp sting I’ve had in my career, and I have not deserved any of the bee stings I’ve got."
The order Hymenoptera, which includes bees and wasps, is now the most diverse animal group in the world. Mateus says this is mainly due to the incredible number of very small, hard-to-identify parasitic wasps. Many of these play important roles in the ecosystem. Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the world’s leading biocontrol research countries, and often particular species of parasitoid wasps are used to control invasive pests.
Parasitoid wasps
Pteromalus puparum is a species of parasitoid wasps found in Aotearoa New Zealand. They were introduced by government entomologists to control cabbage white butterflies, an agricultural pest species.
Here, female wasps lay eggs on a cabbage white butterfly pupa.
Our social wasps are all invasive. The German wasp (Vespula germanica) arrived shortly after World War II, with the common wasp (V. vulgaris) becoming established in the 1970s. However, many species in their native countries play important roles in regulating agricultural pest species, pollination and seed dispersal.
Hornets: another kind of wasp
New Zealand’s most widespread species of wasps were introduced within the last century, successfully integrating themselves into the ecosystem to the point where Mateus says we now have more wasps than anywhere else. What’s newer on the scene are hornets.
Yellow-legged hornet
The Asian hornet (Vespa velutina), also known as the yellow-legged hornet or Asian predatory wasp, is a pest species seen in northern parts of Aotearoa New Zealand in 2025 and 2026. They are a biosecurity concern, preying on species such as honey bees and wild bees.
Technically, explains Mateus, hornets are a particularly big and bulky variety of social wasps. Yellow-legged hornets (Vespa velutina), originally an Asian species, have successfully invaded Europe, through a process Mateus explains. Only the queen survives during winter, hiding out somewhere warm before emerging in spring to start a new colony. If their hiding place is moved while they’re hibernating, the new location can become the source of a fast-moving hornet invasion in spring.
A yellow-legged hornet invasion is particularly concerning, says Mateus, because this species specialise in attacking and eating other social insects. “In Europe, this species of hornet has been known to have a third of their diet be comprised of honey bees,” says Mateus. This makes them not just a conservation issue or even a public health issue but also a threat to food production in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Accustomed to stings
As a long-time bee and wasp researcher, Mateus has received his fair share of stings. He says that, when he’s looking at taking on a postgraduate student, his first question is whether they’re squeamish of being stung.
Mateus explains there’s even a scientific scale for the pain from insect stings: the Schmidt sting pain index. This was compiled by one researcher, Justin Schmidt, who made it his life’s work to be stung by as many insects as possible and rank the resultant pain on a scale of 1–4. On this scale, Mateus says, the species of bees and wasps common to New Zealand score very low compared to some species of ants and wasps. That’s one more reason, perhaps, for being grateful to live in Aotearoa.
Related content
Parasitoid wasp life cycle – find out about the lives of New Zealand’s tiny native wasps.
Middle Earth wasps – the native parasitoid wasps helping in biocontrol.
Angry wasp versus hungry ant – common wasps have been seen exhibiting surprising behaviour in the hunt for food.
Action needed on New Zealand’s wasp problem – introduced wasps such as V. germanica and V. vulgaris are so common as to pose major health and safety risks.
Read more about the Honeydew ecosystem that is threatened by introduced wasps.
Visit our Wasps Pinterest board.
Useful links
Yellow-legged hornets in Auckland – MPI’s biosecurity page for reporting sightings of yellow-legged hornets.
Find out more about the Schmidt pain index and download a poster here.
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Kia Pākiki Canterbury is a monthly podcast about science, technology and the humanities presented by the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society Te Apārangi.
