A praying mantis, taken to North East Valley School by an excited Tyrell Dawson to show his friends, created quite a stir.
The insect had been found by Tyrell's father, who works for a catering company, in a box of Dargaville kumara.
Tom McFarlane, a classmate of Tyrell's, told his mother Mandy Tocher about the insect, sparking an instant response.
She and Tom had been searching unsuccessfully for native praying mantis, a type of insect she had as a child kept as a pet.
When researching Tyrell's bug on the internet, she discovered the insect was a South African praying mantis, which was a threat to New Zealand's mantis population.
The breed was first identified in the country in 1978, but had only become established in areas north of Nelson.
She contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Maf) and was told to not release the insect.
A Maf Biosecurity spokesman said, while the South African praying mantis was not an "unwanted pest", they were"very aggressive" and "compete with the native praying mantis".
A Department of Conservation staff member would visit the school, talk to the children about biosecurity and why it was important to protect native species, and remove the insect.
He was pleased the incident could be educational about biosecurity.
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