Our indigenous species who occur naturally in Otago. Many of the selected species below have had their national conservation status assessed in the New Zealand Threat Classification System
Aotearoa New Zealand is a biodiversity hotspot—one of the world’s treasure chests of unusual and fascinating life forms, many of which are found nowhere else. This makes our native species unique and irreplaceable, yet we have one of the highest extinction rates in the world.
Despite some major conservation success stories, Aotearoa New Zealand is also a hotspot for extinctions and for seriously threatened taxa at risk of extinction.
In the New Zealand Threat Classification System more than 4000 native species have been assessed as threatened with extinction or at risk of becoming threatened.
A higher proportion of indigenous species are facing extinction in Aotearoa New Zealand than anywhere else in the world.
One of the regions with the most biodiversity in Aotearoa New Zealand is Otago.
Our region has a high number of native species due to its variability in climate, geology and landforms. Moreover, the active tectonic geology and complex landscapes have shaped unique and varied species communities.
Below, we provide lists for selected species groups in Otago. Such species lists can play a critical role in our fundamental understanding of the natural world.
Ika oneone or amphibians are small vertebrates that need water, or a most environment, to survive.
Kuturiki (also known as ngō) or aphids are relatively small, sap-sucking insects with soft pear-shaped bodies.
Pekapeka or bats are Aotearoa New Zealand’s only native land mammals.
Ngaro huruhuru or native bees are relatively small, non-aggressive and mostly solitary.
Manu or birds are the only living vertebrates with feathers.
Pepe or pūrerehua or butterflies and moths belong to a diverse group of winged insects.
Carnivorous land snails includes medium- to large-sized snails.
Chimaras, sharks and rays are a diverse group of jawed fish that contains cartilaginous fish or chondrichtyans; all have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage.
Kapokapowai or dragonflies and kekewai or damselflies are insects who are expert fliers as adults, capturing up to 97% of their prey by intercepting it mid-flight with impressive precision.
Toke (also known as noke) or earthworms are soil-dwelling terrestrial invertebrates.
Puruhi or native fleas are small, wingless, jumping insects that feed on the blood of mammals and birds.
Ikawai or freshwater fishes are ray-finned fish and jawless fish that rely on freshwater to complete their life cycle.
Tuaiwi-kore wai or freshwater invertebrates are spineless macroinvertebrates that live in waterways.
Hornworts and liverworts and are ancient, non-vascular plants (bryophytes) that lack true roots, woody tissues, or specialised circulatory systems to transport water.
Putoko ropiropi or leaf-veined slugs are air-breathing land slugs that often have attractive patterns on their posterior surface which resembles the veins in a leaf.
Pukoko or lichens are composite organisms, consisting of a fungus growing with algae and/or cyanobacterium.
Pūkohukohu or moss are small, primitive, non-vascular land plants that lack true roots, woody tissues, or specialised circulatory systems to transport water.
Hekaheka or fungi are not plants or animals, forming their own separate diverse kingdom.
Ngā pūwereriki or mites and kutu kararehe or ticks are a hyper-diverse group of minute arthropods, invertebrates with jointed legs.
Ngārara or reptiles are vertebrates covered in special skin up of scales, bony plates, or a combination of both.
Kekeno or New Zealand fur seals and pakake or New Zealand sea lions are large-bodied mammals.
Pūngāwerewere or spiders are eight-legged creatures known for making silk webs.
Rō or stick insects are large insects famous for their close resemblance to the foliage on which they feed.
Nakinaki or vascular plants have a specialised system of tubes to distribute resources throughout the plant.
February 2026
XLSX | 218 KB
Conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago, 2026. Supplementary Information
August 2026
XLSX | 142 KB
This Excel document lists the indigenous vascular plants in the Eyres Ecological District.
August 2026
XLSX | 360 KB
This Excel document lists the indigenous and exotic vascular plants recorded in Mount Aspiring National Park.
August 2025
XLSX | 115 KB
This Excel document lists threatened or at-risk indigenous vascular plants of the Otago Region by Territorial Authorities or Freshwater Management Units
August 2026
XLSX | 134 KB
This Excel document lists the indigenous vascular plants in The Catlins Ecological Region.
Ngaokeoke or peripatus or velvet worms are little-known nocturnal invertebrates.
Wēta, cave wētā, crickets and grasshoppers belong to a diverse group of mainly medium- to large-sized terrestrial insects.
Te whānau puha or whales and aihe or dolphins and pāpahu or porpoises are marine mammals; like us, they breathe air, are warm-blooded, give birth to live young and nurse them with milk.
Explore the species in Otago
Our indigenous species and their habitats are a taoka (treasured possessions).
Otago's unique species
We have compiled a list of species found only in Otago.
Regional threat assessments
We have published threat assessments on several group of species in Otago, including bats, birds, indigenous vascular plants and reptiles. You can read them all on our regional threat assessment page, with more to come.
New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS)
The NZTCS provides a tool for assigning a threat status to candidate species (taxa). This tool has been used to assess the conservation status of groups of plants, animals and fungi.
Regional Threat Classification System manual 2026
The RTCS is an extension of the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). The RTCS provides a tool for assessing the extinction risk for species (taxa) with Aotearoa New Zealand’s sixteen geopolitical regions.
