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Located to the north of Auckland city, Te Hauturu-o-Toi, also known as Little Barrier Island is the home to the largest of the giant weta species, the wētāpunga (Deinacrida heteracantha). Being New Zealand's oldest nature reserve becoming protected in 1895, the island has remained free of introduced rodents.
Wētā (also spelled weta in English) is the common name for a group of about 100 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae endemic to New Zealand. They are giant flightless crickets , and some are among the heaviest insects in the world .
Deinacrida rugosa, commonly called the Cook Strait giant wētā or Stephens Island wētā, [1] is a species of insect in the family Anostostomatidae. The scientific name Deinacrida means "terrible grasshopper" and rugosa means "wrinkled".
Deinacrida parva is a species of insect in the family Anostostomatidae, the king crickets and weta. It is known commonly as the Kaikoura wētā [1] or Kaikoura giant wētā. [2] It was first described in 1894 from a male individual [3] then rediscovered in 1966 by Dr J.C. Watt at Lake Sedgemore in Upper Wairau. [4]
The heaviest of this widespread, varied complex of insects is the Little Barrier Island giant weta, Deinacrida heteracantha, of New Zealand; one specimen weighed 71 g (2.5 oz) and measured nearly 10 cm (3.9 in), [2] giving it one of the largest insect weights ever known. These heavyweight insects can be over 9 cm (3.5 in) long.
Deinacrida heteracantha, also known as the Little Barrier giant wētā or wētāpunga (Māori: wētāpunga), [2] is a wētā in the order Orthoptera and family Anostostomatidae. It is endemic to New Zealand , where it survived only on Hauturu ( Little Barrier Island ). [ 3 ]
Anostostomatidae is a family of insects in the order Orthoptera, widely distributed in the southern hemisphere. [1] It is named Mimnermidae or Henicidae in some taxonomies, and common names include king crickets in Australia and South Africa, and wētā in New Zealand (although not all wētā are in Anostostomatidae).
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 ]