Scientists say a discovery that may help combat wasps was actually a bit of fluke.
Wasps compete with native fauna in New Zealand's beech forests as both are attracted to honeydew.
A visiting scientist from Sweden, Rikard Unelius, was out fishing with a colleague from Plant and Food Research when they used a green-lipped mussel on the end of their hook.
"By conicidence we found that wasps were attracted to ... green-lipped mussel," he says. "It was definitely a fluke".
The researchers have extracted the compound in the mussels which attracts wasps and say it is a great success as a lure.
"The traps are catching a lot of wasps - maybe 200 in two hours," Mr Unelius says.
The next step for the scientists is to develop a poison or bait to use in combination with the mussel compound lure that the wasps can carry back to their nests, potentially to kill the queen or young wasps.
