It's the kind of thing you might expect Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons to find.
Instead, it was Aaron Semmens, from Queen Margaret College, who came across the rare pink katydid, a member of the long-horned grasshopper family, while working on some hedges.
"Initially I thought it was just a pink petal that had fallen off. But then I realised it was moving. I was pretty surprised, to be honest. I've never seen anything like that before."
Mr Semmens took the insect to the school's science department, where some amazed pupils examined it.
Tessa Frazer, 9, said it was amazing, while Catherine Tomlinson commented that it was "bright pink, it was the same colour as my friend's top".
The school took the katydid to Te Papa, where curator of insects Ricardo Palma said the pink specimen was very rare. There were only two examples in the literature for New Zealand.
"Four from about 50 years ago, and one was found last year in Te Horo."
Similar cases had been found overseas and there were two possible reasons for the strange colour.
"One theory is that it is due to dietary reasons, the other is that it is genetic."
However, Te Papa will have to wait up to a year for the katydid to reach maturity before it can determine the cause of its colour. Katydids are usually green.
photo on the link