Wetapunga

• GeneralOne of the heaviest insects in the world: a gravid female reaches 70 grams.
• récordIt can outweigh a sparrow, making it one of the heaviest insects known, and in New Zealand's ecosystems it fills the niche small rodents occupy elsewhere.
• It is the largest insect in New Zealand and can weigh up to 71 g, more than a sparrow.
• It survived only on Hauturu Island, free of mammalian predators; after the Pacific rat was eradicated in 2004 the population began to recover.
• It has been translocated to other predator-free islands: in 2018, 300 individuals bred at Auckland Zoo were released, and by then 4,300 had already been freed in the Hauraki Gulf.
• It cannot fly, and as an adult it lives a nomadic life, moving about without settling anywhere.
• It makes defensive sounds by rubbing pegs on the femur against ridges on the abdomen, with peaks of up to 40-50 kHz.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Island temperate forest

Size at birth

Egg 7 mm long by 2.5 mm wide

Sexual maturity

It reaches maturity at around eighteen months and breeds only at the end of its two years of life: it is a slow and unprolific breeder for its size

Gestation / incubation

The eggs take about 125 days on average to hatch and the nymph goes through ten instars to maturity, one more than the other wetas; it takes around eighteen months to become an adult

Litter / clutch size

The eggs, oval and about 7 mm long by 2.5 wide, are laid buried in the ground: the female's ovipositor is long enough to place them 50 mm deep

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (en): Deinacrida heteracantha · Te Papa, ficha wetapunga · Predator Free NZ Trust, ficha wetapunga · Te Papa · Britannica, ficha Giant weta · Animalia, ficha Deinacrida heteracantha · Predator Free NZ Trust · Britannica · Encyclopedia of Life, ficha Deinacrida heteracantha

Best time: It feeds mainly at night, although it is also active by day on the vegetation; it is tree-dwelling and shelters under loose bark and in cavities of mahoe and pohutukawa. It survives only on Hauturu (Little Barrier Island) and on predator-free islands where it has been reintroduced

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.