Peter’s interests are in the speciation and distribution of insect species around New Zealand.
However there are several serious concerns. Their conservation is hindered by the lack of data. It is certain that the New Zealand fauna is not fully known.
One example is the cranefly family group. In New Zealand the cranefly fauna is rich (over 550 species) and possibly 99% is endemic, yet this endemic fauna has very poor data. There are many undescribed species and the larvae are important in soils of all types, wetlands and streams but of all these, less than a dozen species are known for certain in their larval stage. Also a very rough estimate of 25–75% have males or females or both that are unable to fly. These generally have very restricted habitats and distributions. Banks Peninsula fauna has part (about 15%) of the New Zealand fauna and it shows all these features: endemics, restricted habitats, flightlessness, winter emergence.