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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 ...
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]
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.
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]
The mating systems observed in giant wētā species like the Scree Wētā (Deinacrida connectens) and Cook Strait giant wētā (Deinacrida rugosa) likely led to the development of sexual dimorphism. where males develop lighter, more slender bodies and longer legs allows them to cover distance more efficiently has developed.
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 ...
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 ...