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Wētā is a loanword, from the Māori-language word wētā, which refers to this whole group of large insects; some types of wētā have a specific Māori name. [2] In New Zealand English, it is spelled either "weta" or "wētā", although the form with macrons is increasingly common in formal writing, as the Māori word weta (without macrons) instead means "filth or excrement". [3]
[2] [5] Within this range are nine chromosome races [14] [15] and there are five hybrid zones where six of these races meet. [15] Hawke's Bay tree wētā, Hemideina trewicki Morgan-Richards, 1995 [16] Hawke's Bay. Wellington tree wētā, Hemideina crassidens (Blanchard, 1851) Wellington, the Wairarapa, the northern part of the South Island, and ...
As saddlebacks prey on the wētā during the day, D. heteracantha are thus under constant predation pressure. [16] There is evidence suggesting that these rats have a negative impact on the population of these wētā, as is commonly the case with invasive rodents. [17] The removal of the kiore in 2004 was a success. The population size grew ...
A number of animals prey on the Cook Strait giant wētā, including birds and reptiles such as the tuatara. As a defence against predators the Cook Strait giant wētā will raise its spiked legs over its head and wave them up and down while making a hissing sound by rapidly rubbing together the overlapping plates on its upper body. [9]
Therefore, the wētā is thought to be the effective equivalent of a mouse in New Zealand ecosystems. [12] This is particularly obvious in predation and diet similarities of the wētā and mouse. Therefore, although mice may not directly prey upon wētā, the wētā numbers decrease when mice numbers are high, due to competition.
The Mercury Islands tusked wētā, (Motuweta isolata), also known as the Middle Island tusked wētā, is a large flightless insect in the family Anostostomatidae, discovered in 1970 living on a single small island in New Zealand. Distinguished by the enormous tusks with which males fight, it was saved from extinction by a captive breeding ...
There are eleven species of giant wētā, [2] most of which are larger than other wētā, despite the latter also being large by insect standards. Large species can be up to 7 cm (3 in), not inclusive of legs and antennae , with body mass usually no more than 35 g (1.2 oz). [ 3 ]
An adult Poor Knights giant wētā (Deinacrida fallai) from Aorangi Island, Poor Knights Island group, Northland, New Zealand. Deinacrida fallai was only described as a new species in 1950. [2] It is the second largest wētā species in the world, [2] with females weighing up to 40g and measuring up to 73mm (2.87 inches) in length. [5]