NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Silence of the wasps: How DNA could be key to stopping this NZ scourge

Jamie Morton
By Jamie Morton
Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·
6 Oct, 2019 12:11 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The European paper wasp (pictured) is mainly found around the Nelson region and is thought to have been in the country for a decade at least. Photo / Alvesgaspar/ CC BY-SA 3.0

The European paper wasp (pictured) is mainly found around the Nelson region and is thought to have been in the country for a decade at least. Photo / Alvesgaspar/ CC BY-SA 3.0

It's one of our most notorious recent arrivals – but the European paper wasp could soon meet one of the most sophisticated pesticides ever designed.

The yellow and black menace is about to become the target of next generation of pesticides that aim to kill the wasp at its molecular roots, using the latest "gene-silencing" science.

The wasp is mainly found around the Nelson region and is thought to have been in the country for a decade at least.

It's seen as a serious scourge not just as an invasive species, but one that causes a particular headache for anyone whose home it moves into.

"While we already have the Asian and Australian paper wasps here, it's how they mass their populations that sets them apart," Victoria University insect ecologist Professor Phil Lester said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"A house might have 20 nests around its eaves – that's a lot of wasps. They also tend have much larger nests, because they start earlier in summer."

The wasp also posed a major risk to our environment, given they likely fed on native insects and competed with our own species.

"If they spread throughout New Zealand, they're going to be a major problem for us."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But Lester and fellow scientists aim to stop the wasp in its tracks, with a cutting-edge agent drawing on gene silencing, or RNAi - a highly targeted and environmentally safe way to wipe out pest insects.

Lester's team plan to create short, synthetic segments of ribonucleic acid, or RNA – a molecule essential in coding and regulating the expression of genes.

Fed to the wasps through an attractive bait, their double-stranded RNA would mimic that found in the wasps themselves – but instead of doing jobs like creating proteins, they'd do the opposite.

"It's merely stopping cellular processes from working. It might mean stopping messages reaching their cells so they can make essential proteins, carbohydrates or chemicals that it needs to survive.

Discover more

Lifestyle

Exploring pros and cons of meat-free diets

04 Oct 10:24 PM
Lifestyle

Avocado toast, meet gene editing

04 Oct 02:11 AM
World

Humans 'not prepared' for alien bombshell

04 Oct 05:17 AM
New Zealand

Pāua shells 'at risk' as climate changes

04 Oct 04:00 PM

"It might mean they're not able to make an exoskeleton. Or it might stop them from being able to convert to sugar into energy."

Lester pointed out that, as the genomic information of the wasp wasn't being changed, the approach couldn't be considered genetic modification.

Moreover, the technology has the promise of being able to kill one species without the risk of harming others.

Richard Toft, the insect ecologist behind the revolutionary wasp bait Vespex, would help design an attractant, while respected Otago University geneticist Professor Peter Dearden would collaborate on the gene silencing solution.

"If we can develop a new bait alone, it could be mixed with a normal pesticide to kill wasps – but we are really aiming to go much further than that," Lester said.

"We are talking about the next generation of pesticides here."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The study is one of two new projects which have received million-dollar grants through the Government's Endeavour Fund.

The other, led by Plant and Food Research, aims to reveal the sex pheromones of New Zealand's two main vespula wasp species, so they can be exploited through a new biocontrol agent.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand|crime

Jevon McSkimming selling properties amid criminal investigation

14 May 10:08 PM
live
Politics

Watch: Willis to make social investment announcement in pre-Budget speech

14 May 09:46 PM
New Zealand

'Multiple emergency service events': Britomart train station evacuated

14 May 09:26 PM

Connected workers are safer workers 

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Jevon McSkimming selling properties amid criminal investigation

Jevon McSkimming selling properties amid criminal investigation

14 May 10:08 PM

Properties McSkimming is listed as owning have been put up for sale or sold.

Watch: Willis to make social investment announcement in pre-Budget speech
live

Watch: Willis to make social investment announcement in pre-Budget speech

14 May 09:46 PM
'Multiple emergency service events': Britomart train station evacuated

'Multiple emergency service events': Britomart train station evacuated

14 May 09:26 PM
'Shaken': Worker threatened with weapon as two bottle stores robbed

'Shaken': Worker threatened with weapon as two bottle stores robbed

14 May 09:18 PM
The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head
sponsored

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP