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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 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]
The Cook Strait giant wētā is found only in New Zealand, on the islands of the North, South and Middle Trio, Stephens, Maud, Matiu/Somes and Mana. [4] [5] In 2007, this species was reintroduced to mainland New Zealand, where it had been extinct for over 100 years, and is now found in Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary in the North Island. [6]
Trewick, S.A.; Morgan-Richards, M. 2004: Phylogenetics of New Zealand's tree, giant and tusked weta (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae): evidence from mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Orthoptera research, 13(2): 185–196. ISSN 1082-6467 JSTOR; Watt, J.C. 1963: The rediscovery of a giant weta, Deinacrida heteracantha, on the North Island mainland ...
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]
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 ]
Deinacrida tibiospina was first described in 1950 by New Zealand scientist John Salmon. [6] The species name tibiospina translates to tibia spine, or shin spine. This is likely a reference to the species' densely spined hind legs. [2] [3] Why the species is not called femoraspina because most of its spines are on the femurs, not the tibia, is a ...
Deinacrida connectens, often referred to as the alpine scree wētā, is one of New Zealand's largest alpine invertebrates and is a member of the Anostostomatidae family. Deinacrida connectens is a flightless nocturnal insect that lives under rocks at high elevation. Mountain populations vary in colour.