Avatar moth carries an environmental message
A new species of moth discovered on the West Coast has been named after James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster, Avatar.
Arctesthes avatar, more commonly known as the Avatar moth, was discovered by scientist Brian Patrick and caught by his son Hamish on the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau in March.
They opened the naming rights to the public to raise public awareness on plans for a coalmine at Denniston, and received more than 100 suggestions.
Brian Patrick said Avatar worked well as an analogy.
‘‘It’s a novel name and the movie is about a mining company that threatens to devastate a human-like
Catchy name: species that’s living in harmony with nature,’’ he said.
The moth was discovered during Forest & Bird’s Denniston BioBlitz. Other possible new species included another moth, a beetle, a wingless wasp and three spiders.