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Tree wētā are nocturnal and arboreal, hiding in hollow tree branches during the day and feeding at night. [7] Their diet consists of leaves, flowers, fruit and small insects. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Males have larger heads and stronger jaws than females, though both sexes will stridulate and bite when threatened.
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]
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]
Hemideina crassidens, commonly known as the Wellington tree wētā, is a large, flightless, nocturnal insect in the family Anostostomatidae. This wētā species is endemic to New Zealand and populates regions in the southern half of North Island/Te Ika a Maui and the north-west of the South Island/Te Wai Pounamu .
[21] While most wētā species are omnivorous, the largest giant wētā usually follow a herbivorous diet. [ 8 ] The scree wētā ( Deinacrida connectens ) have been observed consuming small fleshy fruits and dispersing the remaining seeds, however the dispersal rates of each scree wētā individual largely depended on its size. [ 22 ]
The Banks peninsula tree wētā is a nocturnal omnivore that eats small insects, as well as the leaves of trees, shrubs, and in some cases, pasture species. [ 5 ] [ 11 ] The main predators of Hemideina ricta are non-native mammal rodents, specifically rats and possums , which are pests throughout mainland New Zealand and some offshore islands ...
In an experiment, D. connectens' ability to disperse seeds of Gaultheria depressa by feeding was found to be dependent on the size of the wētā. [12] At smaller sizes, fewer seeds were eaten and the wētā could be considered seed predators, (almost no seeds made it intact through the guts of individuals measuring 2 cm or less). [12]