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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]
[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 ]
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.
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 ]
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 ...
Hemideina maori, also known as the mountain stone wētā, is a wētā of the family Anostostomatidae. They are a large, flightless, nocturnal orthopteran endemic to New Zealand . Mountain stone wētā are long lived and are found on many central mountain ranges in New Zealand's South Island .
Maotoweta is a monotypic genus of cave wētā in the subfamily Macropathinae. [3] The only known species is Maotoweta virescens, [2] [4] commonly known as the green moss wētā. [5] It is endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand and found in forests throughout the South Island. [5]
Deinacrida mahoenui, the Mahoenui giant wētā, is a flightless insect in the giant wētā family Anostostomatidae. It is endemic to the area of Mahoenui , New Zealand , and the world population for some time was restricted to a single patch of introduced gorse on farmland.