Join Te Papa’s curators for a fascinating array of talks on New Zealand’s natural history. The six titles published in the Te Papa Te Taiao Nature Series have been such a hit that they are now available together in a gorgeous boxed set, making the ultimate introduction to the natural history of Aotearoa. Each title is written by Te Papa curators and species experts and includes specialist illustrations and insights into the museum’s fieldwork and collections.
Sharing their work within each of their titles, we’ll hear from Curator Botany Heidi Meudt on Native Plants of Aotearoa; Lead Curator Invertebrates Julia Kasper on Native Insects of Aotearoa; Curator Invertebrates Phil Sirvid on Native Spiders of Aotearoa; Assistant Curator Natural History Andrew Stewart on Native Fishes of Aotearoa; and Editor of Birds New Zealand magazine Michael Szabo on Native Birds of Aotearoa.
Our last event for the year, consider this your festive end-of-year catch up with Te Papa’s Natural History team, and bring along your burning questions for a Q&A session following the talks.
Designed by the award-winning Tim Denee, these charming hardbacks can be used in the backyard or out in nature. Fully illustrated, the books cover more than 400 species of plants, fish, shells, insects, spiders and birds, brought together in a set that’s as beautiful as it is informative. Presenting as a wonderful opportunity to save 25% on the individual titles by purchasing as a set, you can also have your editions signed by the authors on the day! We’ll also have other titles by these authors available to purchase at a special members discount to you of 20%, including the individual books in the set – a great opportunity for some special Christmas shopping!
Dr Heidi Meudt is Curator Botany at Te Papa whose collections-based research focuses on the evolution and classification of native New Zealand flowering plants, especially forget-me-nots, plantains, hebes and foxgloves. Her research aims to update the taxonomy and conservation status of the native plants she studies using morphology, DNA, pollen and other data. She is an active member of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy’s Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants and the Australasian Systematic Botany Society, and she is also an enthusiastic Wikimedian and iNaturalist curator.
Julia Kasper is Lead Curator Invertebrates at Te Papa and an entomologist specialising in flies. She studies the taxonomy and distribution of lower Diptera in Aotearoa New Zealand with a strong focus on biosecurity.
Dr Phil Sirvid is Curator Invertebrates in the Natural History Team at Te Papa. He has a broad general knowledge of New Zealand entomology but specialises in the arachnids, particularly spiders and harvesters. He is a former president of the Entomological Society of New Zealand. Phil has contributed to numerous Te Papa Press publications including 100 Natural History Treasures of Te Papa (2019) and Nature — Stilled (2020). He co-authored Why is that Spider Dancing? The Amazing Arachnids of Aotearoa (2021) and The Incredible Insects of Aotearoa (2025) with Simon Pollard and Native Insects of Aotearoa (2023) with Julia Kasper. His recent book, Native Spiders of Aotearoa, joined the Te Papa Te Taiao Nature Series in October 2025.
Andrew Stewart is Assistant Curator Natural History at Te Papa and co-author of the landmark The Fishes of New Zealand (2015). Andrew has had a fascination and love of fishes since he was very small and since developed that interest at Te Papa for over forty years through research and science outreach. His particular areas of specialisation are sharks and rays, the deep-water fishes and Southern Ocean (Antarctic) fishes.
Michael Szabo is the author of Wild Wellington Ngā Taonga Taiao and Native Birds of Aotearoa (Te Papa Press, 2021 & 2024), editor of Birds New Zealand magazine, a Wilderness magazine columnist, and writes on environmental issues for Greenpeace Aotearoa.
He was the principal author of Wild Encounters: A Forest & Bird guide to discovering NZ’s unique wildlife (Penguin, 2009), and a principal author of New Zealand Birds Online (2013). A former editor of Forest & Bird and Greenpeace magazines, he has also written about natural history and conservation issues for New Scientist, New Zealand Geographic, and Sunday Star Times.
He has worked in senior roles for conservation and environmental organisations, as campaigns manager at Greenpeace Aotearoa, communications manager at BirdLife International and Forest & Bird, and as founding director of Pew Charitable Trust’s Kermadecs Ocean Sanctuary Project. He also wrote Making Waves I & II (Reed Books, 1991; Greenpeace, 2021), on the history of Greenpeace campaigns in Aotearoa, the South Pacific and Antarctica (1971-2020), and A history of nuclear testing in the Pacific (Greenpeace, 2025).
His photography has been published in Wild Wellington, and in Forest & Bird, Birds New Zealand, Wilderness, New Zealand Geographic and Greenpeace magazines.
Above image credits, clockwise from left: Erected_Exposures; Biodiversity Heritage Library; Jocelyn Kinghorn; Antique fish Rhombosolea plebeia (NZ): Sand flounder drawn by F, Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel; Sid Mosdell; Te Papa Press.