The Ministry of Primary Industries says it's important when people spot a creature that that looks out of place "to pick up the phone" and let them know.
It comes after a small scorpion was found in the bathroom of Auckland food and travel writer Anna King Shahab by her husband.
She said that her husband's first thought was that it looked like a "piece of fluff" on the bathroom floor, before he realised he had found something “you would never see in New Zealand”.
“That [scorpion] is not the first thing that came to my mind, that it had survived," King Shahab said.
She had recently been in Bali and Fiji.
The family immediately took action by putting a jar over it and calling MPI, who advised them to wrap it in tin foil and put it in the freezer.
Biosecurity staff later searched the bathroom with a black light, because scorpions glow under UV.
However, there were no signs of any other scorpions.
MPI's Mike Inglis said the tiny scorpion was likely hijacked from Fiji.
He said the creature was about 1.5cm long and in “very poor condition”, which indicated it would not have survived much longer.
“It can be dangerous in terms of the venom, it’s different from the usual scorpion we have in New Zealand," Inglis said.
"Previously NZ has had 10 scorpions since 2018, and this one was a bit of a juvenile one," he said.
Most have been linked to overseas travel or imported goods, including luggage, clothing, produce and freight.
MPI said most scorpion species need specific warm, dry conditions, so they are generally considered a low biosecurity risk here.
“The system is so important, both offshore and at the border checks, and more importantly we have a community like Anna who when they see something that doesn’t look right, to pick up the phone," he said.
Inglis said the call to the hotline will see the biosecurity team respond quickly like they do with other threats and diseases.
"We don’t want it impacting our industry, packed in our biodiversity, the horticulture and protecting exports in the corner at the same time. That’s why we respond very quickly.”
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