Last week the Waikato District Council chopped trees down at the Te Kopua reserve. In the middle of last year, Raglan resident Cynthia Tucker wrote to the Raglan Chronicle pointing out that she had seen katipo spiders in the area before work was started on the skate bowl. After the tree felling last week, Fred Lichtwark investigated the area and supplied some photos to the Department of Conservation. An inital investigation by DOC indicates that the spiders are false katipos rather than the true native katipo.
See DOC statement below:
Hi Ben and Fred
I apologise for the late reply to you both, we have been inundated with reactionary requests in recent days. I have received your emails of yesterday/today. Paul Gasson our fauna ecologist has inspected the site and advises:
- the snail image you sent Fred was native but not threatened. We would not expect to find any threatened snail species at the site
- the image of the spider you sent me Fred appears to be the false katipo Steatoda capensis. The Te Papa website has good images of both the native and false katipo and we have sent the image to an invertebrate specialist for identification -no reply as yet. Our inspection of the site has not revealed katipo presence and while they might exist locally this specific site is not considered prime habitat for them
- good katipo habitat is amongst foredune vegetation comprising driftwood, pingao and spinifex and similar species. Exotic marram can provide katipo habitat but it is not preferred compared to native grass and sedge communities etc
- DOC would have had concerns if dune and native dominated vegetation and the local topography had been disturbed but I am advised the disturbance of that specific habitat has not been particularly altered. Care was taken to retain pohutakawa and totara seedlings for example
- a monoculture of poplar trees does not provide good habitat for native invertebrates
- regeneration of native plants including existing Muehlenbackia and pohutakawa is supported. The local ground undulation should be retained
- if replanting is undertaken I am sure the advice of Bernard Brown (local landscape architect), or anyone in the business of growing dune edge species can supply you with advice on suitable local plant stock
- the problem for the site is the disconnection that exists to the foredune by the grassed area. To reiterate the site is not prime habitat for invertebrates and our inspection has not revealed the presence of threatened species although we cannot discount that possibility.
Kind regards
John Gumbley
Programme Manager -Biodiversity (Assets)
Kaiwhakahaere -Koiora Rereketanga