Wētā

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Wētā
Male tree weta-orig.jpg
Male Wellington tree wētā
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Groups included

Wētā (also spelt 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. Generally nocturnal, most small species are carnivores and scavengers while the larger species are herbivorous. [1] Although some endemic birds (and tuatara) likely prey on them, wētā are disproportionately preyed upon by introduced mammals, and some species are now critically endangered.

Name

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]

General characteristics

Many wētā are large by insect standards [4] and some species are among the largest and heaviest in the world. Their physical appearance is like a katydid, long-horned grasshopper, or cricket, but the hind legs are enlarged and usually very spiny. Many are wingless. Because they can cope with variations in temperature, wētā are found in a variety of environments, including alpine, forests, grasslands, caves, shrub lands and urban gardens. They are nocturnal, and all New Zealand species are flightless. Different species have different diets. Most wētā are predators or omnivores preying on other invertebrates, but the tree and giant wētā eat mostly lichens, leaves, flowers, seed-heads, and fruit. [5] [6]

Male giant wētā (Deinacrida sp.) are smaller than females and they show scramble competition for mates. [7] Tree wētā (Hemideina sp) males have larger heads than females and a polygynandrous mating system with harem formation and male-male competition for mates. [8] Ground wētā (Hemiandrus sp.) males provide nuptial food gifts when mating and females of some species provide maternal care. [9] Wētā eggs are laid in soil over the autumn and winter months and hatch the following spring. A wētā takes between one and two years to reach adulthood, and over this time will have to shed its skin around ten times as it grows. [10]

Wētā can bite with powerful mandibles. Tree wētā bites are painful but not particularly common. Tree wētā lift their hind legs in a defence displays to look large and spiky, but they tend to retreat if given the chance. Tree wētā raise their hind legs into the air in warning to foes, and then bring them down to stridulate. Pegs or ridges on the side of their abdomen are struck by a patch of fine pegs at the inner surface of their hind legs (femur) and this action makes a distinctive sound. [11] These actions are also used in defence of a gallery by competing males. The female wētā looks as if she has a stinger, but it is an ovipositor, which enables her to lay eggs inside rotting or mossy wood or soil. [12] Some species of Hemiandrus have very short ovipositors, related perhaps to their burrowing into soil and laying their eggs in a special chamber at the end of the burrow. [13]

Taxonomy and evolution

Male tree weta Hemideina thoracica H thoracica Matuku 5 Nov 2016 C James OHanlon.jpg
Male tree wētā Hemideina thoracica

Fossilised orthopterans have been found in Russia, China, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, but the relationships are open to different interpretations by scientists. Most wētā of both families are found in the Southern Hemisphere. Wētā were probably present in ancient Gondwana before Zealandia separated from it. [14] Rhaphidophoridae dispersed over sea to colonise the Chatham Islands, the Auckland, Snares and Campbell Islands. [15] The present species might have resulted from a recent radiation, which conflicts with those earlier ideas about dispersal of wētā forebears around the Southern Hemisphere (Wallis et al. 2000).

Giant, tree, ground, and tusked wētā are all members of the family Anostostomatidae (formerly in the Stenopelmatidae, but recently separated). [16] Cave wētā are better referred to as tokoriro, since they are members of the family Rhaphidophoridae, called cave crickets or camel crickets elsewhere, in a different ensiferan superfamily. In New Zealand there were as of 2014 19 genera of tokoriri, and their taxonomy is under review. [17] [15] [18] Seven new species of South Island cave wētā were named and described in 2019, including Pleioplectron rodmorrisi. [19]

Species

Giant wētā

Cook Strait giant weta (Deinacrida rugosa) Deinacrida rugosa female.jpg
Cook Strait giant wētā ( Deinacrida rugosa )

The 11 species of giant wētā (Deinacrida spp.) are endemic to New Zealand. [11] Giant wētā (wētā punga in Māori) [2] are large by insect standards. They are heavy herbivorous Orthoptera with a body length of up to 100 mm (3.9 in), excluding their long legs and antennae, and weigh about 20–30 g. A captive giant wētā (Deinacrida heteracantha) filled with eggs reached a record 70 g, making it one of the heaviest documented insects in the world [20] and heavier than a sparrow. The largest species of giant wētā is the Little Barrier Island wētā, also known as the wētāpunga. Giant wētā tend to be less social and more passive than tree wētā (Hemideina spp.). They are classified in the genus Deinacrida , which is Greek for "terrible grasshopper". They are found primarily on small islands off the coast of the main islands or at high elevation on New Zealand's South Island (e.g. the alpine scree wētā D. connectens ), and are sometimes considered examples of island gigantism.

Tree wētā

Male Hemideina crassidens (Wellington tree weta) Hemideina crassidens male.jpg
Male Hemideina crassidens (Wellington tree wētā)

Tree wētā ( Hemideina ) are commonly encountered in suburban settings in New Zealand's North Island. They are up to 40 mm long and most commonly live in holes in trees formed by beetle and moth larvae [21] or where rot has set in after a twig has broken off. The hole, called a gallery, is maintained by the wētā and any growth of the bark surrounding the opening is chewed away. They readily occupy a preformed gallery in a piece of wood (a "wētā motel") and can be kept in a suburban garden as pets. A gallery might house a harem of up to 10 adult females and one male. [8] Tree wētā are nocturnal. Their diet consists of plants and small insects. [6] The males have much larger jaws than the females, though both sexes will stridulate and bite when threatened. [11]

Harem of 5 adult females and one male Wellington tree weta (Hemideina crassidens) Hemideina crassidens harem.jpg
Harem of 5 adult females and one male Wellington tree wētā ( Hemideina crassidens )

The seven species of tree wētā (pūtangatanga in Māori) [2] are:

Auckland tree weta Weta-1989.jpg
Auckland tree wētā

The North Island species each have a distinctive set of chromosomes (karyotype). [25] When the territories of species overlap, as with the related species H. femorata and H. ricta on Banks Peninsula, they may interbreed, although offspring are sterile. [26]

Tusked wētā

Motuweta isolata, Mercury Islands tusked weta Motuweta isolata.JPG
Motuweta isolata , Mercury Islands tusked wētā

Tusked wētā are characterised by long, curved tusks projecting forward from the male's mandibles. The tusks are used in male-to-male combat, not for biting. Female tusked wētā look similar to ground wētā. Tusked wētā are mainly carnivorous, eating worms and insects. There are three known species in two different subfamilies: the Northland tusked wētā Anisoura nicobarica (originally described as a ground wētā, Hemiandrus monstrosus), in the subfamily Deinacridinae; the Mercury Islands tusked wētā Motuweta isolata ; and the most recently discovered, the Raukumara tusked wētā Motuweta riparia . Motuweta is in the same subfamily as ground wētā, Anostostomatinae.

The Northland tusked wētā lives in tree holes, similar to tree wētā. The Mercury Islands or Middle Island tusked wētā was discovered in 1970. It is a ground-dwelling wētā, entombing itself in shallow burrows during the day, and is critically endangered: a Department of Conservation breeding programme has established new colonies on other islands in the Mercury group. The Raukumara tusked wētā was discovered in 1996, in the Raukumara Range near the Bay of Plenty. It has the unusual habit of diving into streams and hiding underwater for up to three minutes if threatened.

Ground wētā

A male ground weta, Hemiandrus pallitarsis Hemiandrus pallitarsis.jpg
A male ground wētā, Hemiandrus pallitarsis

Ground wētā are classified in the genus Hemiandrus . About 30 species of ground wētā occur in New Zealand, and several very similar (undescribed) ones are found in Australia. [16] They are also very like the Californian Cnemotettix —a similarity perhaps due to their very similar habits and habitat. 19 Hemiandrus species have been described from New Zealand [27] [28] and other distinct populations require further study. [29] They hide in burrows in the ground during the day, and those that live in open ground (e.g., H. focalis , H. maia ) [30] conceal their exit holes with a specially made perforated door. During the night, ground wētā hunt invertebrate prey and eat fruit. Most female ground wētā have long ovipositers (e.g. H. maculifrons ), but some have short ovipositers and maternal care (e.g. H. maia, H. pallitarsis ).

Cave wētā

The 60 species of cave wētā or tokoriro [2] are only very distant relatives of the other types of wētā, being classified in several genera of subfamily Macropathinae in family Rhaphidophoridae.

They have extra-long antennae, [31] and may have long, slender legs and a passive demeanour. Although they have no hearing organs on their front legs like species of Hemideina and Deinacrida, some (such as Talitropsis ) are very sensitive to ground vibrations sensed through pads on their feet. Specialised hairs on the cerci and organs on the antennae are also sensitive to low-frequency vibrations in the air.

Although some do live in caves, most species (e.g. Talitropsis sedilloti ) live in the forest among leaf litter, logs, under bark (e.g. Isoplectron ), inside tree holes (e.g. Neonetus sp.) and amongst rocks in the mountains (e.g. Pharmacus ). [32] [33] [34] [35] Cave-dwelling species may be active within the confines of their caves during the daytime, and those individuals close to cave entrances venture outside at night. [34]

Conservation

Although wētā had native predators in the form of birds (especially the weka and kiwi), reptiles, and bats before the arrival of humans, introduced species such as cats, hedgehogs, rats (including kiore) and mustelids have caused a sharp increase in the rate of predation. They are also vulnerable to habitat destruction caused by humans and modification of their habitat caused by introduced browsers. New Zealand's Department of Conservation considers 16 of the 70 species at risk. Programmes to prevent extinctions have been implemented since the 1970s.

Some especially endangered species are tracked by radio beacons. [36]

New Zealanders Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, and Jamie Selkirk founded visual effects company Weta Digital, naming it after the insect. [37] The business was later renamed as Wētā FX.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anostostomatidae</span> Family of cricket-like animals

Anostostomatidae is a family of insects in the order Orthoptera, widely distributed in the southern hemisphere. 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. Prominent members include the Parktown prawn of South Africa, and the giant wētā of New Zealand. The distribution of this family reflects a common ancestry before the fragmenting of Gondwana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant wētā</span> Genus of orthopteran insects

Giant wētā are several species of wētā in the genus Deinacrida of the family Anostostomatidae. Giant wētā are endemic to New Zealand and all but one species are protected by law because they are considered at risk of extinction.

<i>Motuweta</i> Genus of orthopteran insects

Motuweta is a genus consisting of two species of tusked wētā in the family Anostostomatidae, endemic to New Zealand. The Northland tusked wētā, Anisoura nicobarica, may belong in this group, in which case the genus Motuweta would become a junior synonym of Anisoura.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tree wētā</span> Genus of orthopteran insects

Tree wētā are wētā in the genus Hemideina of the family Anostostomatidae. The genus is endemic to New Zealand. There are seven species within the genus Hemideina, found throughout the country except lowland Otago and Southland. Because many tree wētā species are common and widespread they have been used extensively in studies of ecology and evolution.

<i>Hemiandrus</i> Genus of orthopteran insects

Hemiandrus is a genus of wētā in the family Anostostomatidae. In New Zealand they are known as ground wētā due to their burrowing lifestyle. Hemiandrus wētā are nocturnal, and reside in these burrows during the day. Ground wētā seal the entrance of their burrow during the day with a soil plug or door so that their burrow is concealed. This genus was originally said to be distributed in Australia and New Zealand, however, with recent molecular genetic methods, this is under debate. Ground wētā adults are smaller than other types of wētā, with the unusual trait of having both long and short ovipositors, depending on the species. The name of this genus is said to come from this trait as hemi- mean half and -andrus means male, as the species where the female has a short ovipositor can sometimes be mistaken for a male. This genus has a diverse diet, depending on the species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northland tusked wētā</span> Species of orthopteran insect

The Northland tusked wētā, Anisoura nicobarica, is a rare monotypic wētā of the family Anostostomatidae, endemic to the northern half of Northland in New Zealand, and originally described in 1932. The type specimen was wrongly labelled as coming from the Nicobar Islands, so the species was named Anisoura nicobarica. It was erroneously described again in 1950 by a different author, who placed it in the ground wētā genus Hemiandrus.

<i>Deinacrida fallai</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Deinacrida fallai or the Poor Knights giant wētā is a species of insect in the family Anostostomatidae. It is endemic to the Poor Knights Islands off northern New Zealand. D. fallai are commonly called giant wētā due to their large size. They are one of the largest insects in the world, with a body length measuring up to 73 mm. Their size is an example of island gigantism. They are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN due to their restricted distribution.

<i>Deinacrida heteracantha</i> Species of giant cricket endemic to New Zealand

Deinacrida heteracantha, also known as the Little Barrier giant wētā or wētāpunga, is a wētā in the order Orthoptera and family Anostostomatidae. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it survived only on Little Barrier Island, although it has been translocated to some other predator-free island conservation areas. This very large flightless wētā mainly feeds at night, but is also active during the day, when it can be found above ground in vegetation. It has been classified as vulnerable by the IUCN due to ongoing population declines and restricted distribution.

<i>Deinacrida parva</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Deinacrida parva is a species of insect in the family Anostostomatidae, the king crickets and weta. It is known commonly as the Kaikoura wētā or Kaikoura giant wētā. It was first described in 1894 from a male individual then rediscovered in 1966 by Dr J.C. Watt at Lake Sedgemore in Upper Wairau. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it can be found in the northern half of the South Island.

<i>Deinacrida connectens</i> Species of orthopteran insect

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. This species is the most widespread of the eleven species of giant wētā (Deinacrida).

<i>Hemideina ricta</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Hemideina ricta, known as the Banks Peninsula tree wētā, is an insect that is endemic to New Zealand.

<i>Hemideina thoracica</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Hemideina thoracica, commonly known as the Auckland tree wētā or tokoriro is a cricket-like insect. It is endemic to New Zealand and is found over most of the North Island, except for the Wellington region and regions 900 metres above sea level. This species is an arboreal, herbivorous generalist however, it is also thought to be polyphagous and is found in all wooded habitats, including forest, scrub and suburban gardens.

<i>Hemideina crassidens</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Hemideina crassidens, commonly known as the Wellington tree wētā, is a large, flightless, nocturnal insect in the family Anostostomatidae. This wētā species is endemic to New Zealand and populates regions in the southern half of North Island/Te Ika a Maui and the north-west of the South Island/Te Wai Pounamu. They forage arboreally during the night and are most likely polyphagous. There is obvious sexual dimorphism in adults. Individuals are reliant on tree cavities for refuge, social interactions and mating.

<i>Hemiandrus maia</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Hemiandrus maia, the Otago ground wētā, is a species of ground wētā endemic to New Zealand. Being a ground weta, they are often found in burrows in the ground during the daytime. The species is occurs on the South Island and is classified as "not threatened". This species of wētā is unusual for an insect in that the female looks after her eggs and nymphs, this is known as maternal care.

<i>Hemiandrus electra</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Hemiandrus electra, the Kahurangi ground wētā, is a species of ground wētā endemic to New Zealand. Being a ground wētā, they are often found in burrows in the ground during the daytime. The species is occurs on the South Island and is classified as "Naturally Uncommon". This species of wētā is unusual for an insect in that the female looks after her eggs and nymphs; this is known as maternal care.

<i>Hemiandrus bilobatus</i> Species of wētā endemic to New Zealand

Hemiandrus bilobatus, the wine wētā, is a species of ground weta endemic to New Zealand. Being a ground weta, they are often found in burrows in the ground during the daytime. The species is found in Wellington, on Mana Island and northern South Island and is classified as "Not Threatened". This species of weta is unusual for an insect in that the female shows maternal care. She lays about 50 eggs in the same burrow she uses during the day and looks after her eggs until they hatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Morgan-Richards</span> New Zealand academic

Mary Morgan-Richards is a New Zealand biologist, and as of 2019 is a full professor at Massey University.

<i>Hemiandrus maculifrons</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Hemiandrus maculifrons is a species of ground wētā endemic to New Zealand. They are nocturnal, carnivorous, and flightless orthopterans belonging to the family Anostostomatidae. Being a nocturnal species, individuals remain in tunnels in the ground during the day and emerge from their burrows after sunset to forage and hunt for small invertebrates. H. maculifrons is one of the smallest New Zealand weta species, averaging 15 mm in length and weighing 1–3 g. Unlike the tree weta and tusked weta, where sexual dimorphism is found in the form of male weaponry, ground weta only exhibit sexual size dimorphism: the females are larger than the males.

<i>Hemiandrus focalis</i> Species of orthopteran insect

Hemiandrus focalis is a species of ground wētā endemic to New Zealand. This flightless Orthoptera lives in the mountains of the South Island, New Zealand. This species can be distinguished from other ground wētā by their three superior retrolateral spines on their mid tibia and females have relatively long ovipositors. This omnivorous ground wētā species is listed as "not threatened" by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

Dr Aola Mary Richards was a New Zealand entomologist specialising in the study of New Zealand and Australian cave crickets, or wētā (Rhaphidophoridae), and Australian ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae). She was the first New Zealand woman to gain a PhD in biology.

References

  1. ↑ Trewick, Steve; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2014). NZ wild life : introducing the weird and wonderful character of natural New Zealand. Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin. ISBN   9780143568896. OCLC   881301862.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Wētā". Te Aka Māori Dictionary. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  3. ↑ Edmunds, Susan (13 September 2019). "Weta – when a macron means the difference between insects and excrement". Stuff. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  4. ↑ Griffin, Melissa J.; Trewick, Steve A.; Wehi, Priscilla M.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2011). "Exploring the concept of niche convergence in a land without rodents: the case of weta as small mammals". New Zealand Journal of Ecology . 35 (3): 302–307.
  5. ↑ Wehi, Priscilla M.; Hicks, Brendan J. (2010). "Isotopic fractionation in a large herbivorous insect, the Auckland tree weta". Journal of Insect Physiology. 56 (12): 1877–1882. doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2010.08.005. ISSN   0022-1910. PMID   20709068.
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  7. ↑ Kelly, Clint D.; Bussière, Luc F.; Gwynne, Darryl T. (2008). "Sexual Selection for Male Mobility in a Giant Insect with Female‐Biased Size Dimorphism" (PDF). The American Naturalist. 172 (3): 417–423. doi:10.1086/589894. hdl: 1893/914 . ISSN   0003-0147. PMID   18651830. S2CID   22494505.
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  9. ↑ Taylor Smith, B. L.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steve A. (2013). "New Zealand ground wētā (Anostostomatidae: Hemiandrus): descriptions of two species with notes on their biology". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 40 (4): 314–329. doi: 10.1080/03014223.2013.804422 .
  10. ↑ Gibbs, Gibbs (24 September 2007). "Story: Wētā, Tree wētā". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
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  14. ↑ Pratt, Renae C.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steve A. (2008). "Diversification of New Zealand weta (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Anostostomatidae) and their relationships in Australasia". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 363 (1508): 3427–3437. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0112. ISSN   0962-8436. PMC   2607373 . PMID   18782727.
  15. 1 2 Trewick, Steve A. "Raphidophoridae". Wētā Getter – Massey University. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  16. 1 2 Johns, P. (1997). "The Gondwanaland weta: family Anostostomatidae (formerly in Stenopelmatidae, Henicidae or Mimnermidae): nomenclatural problems, world checklist, new genera and species". Journal of Orthoptera Research. 6 (6): 125–138. doi:10.2307/3503546. JSTOR   3503546.
  17. ↑ Cook, Lorraine D.; Trewick, Steven A.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Johns, Peter M. (2010). "Status of the New Zealand cave weta (Rhaphidophoridae) genera Pachyrhamma, Gymnoplectron and Turbottoplectron". Invertebrate Systematics. 24 (2): 131–138. doi:10.1071/IS09047. ISSN   1447-2600.
  18. ↑ Trewick, Steven A.; Hegg, Danilo; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Fitness, Josephine L. (2018). "Reinstatement of the New Zealand cave wētā genus Miotopus Hutton (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) and description of a new species". European Journal of Taxonomy (468). doi: 10.5852/ejt.2018.468 . ISSN   2118-9773.
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  22. ↑ Morgan-Richards, M (1997). "Intraspecific karyotype variation is not concordant with allozyme variation in the Auckland tree weta of New Zealand, Hemideina thoracica (Orthoptera: Stenopelmatidae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 60 (4): 423–442. doi:10.1006/bijl.1996.0114.
  23. ↑ Bulgarella, Mariana; Trewick, Steven A.; Minards, Niki A.; Jacobson, Melissa J.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2013). "Shifting ranges of two tree weta species (Hemideina spp.): competitive exclusion and changing climate". Journal of Biogeography. 41 (3): 524–535. doi:10.1111/jbi.12224. ISSN   0305-0270. S2CID   62892108.
  24. ↑ Morgan-Richards, M. (1995). "A new species of tree weta from the North Island of New Zealand (Hemideina: Stenopelmatidae: Orthoptera)". New Zealand Entomologist. 18: 15–23. doi:10.1080/00779962.1995.9721996.
  25. ↑ Mckean, NE; Trewick, SA; Morgan-Richards, M (2015). "Comparative cytogenetics of North Island tree wētā in sympatry". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 42 (2): 73–84. doi:10.1080/03014223.2015.1032984. ISSN   0301-4223. S2CID   56256942.
  26. ↑ Mckean, Natasha E.; Trewick, Steven A.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2016). "Little or no gene flow despite F1 hybrids at two interspecific contact zones". Ecology and Evolution. 6 (8): 2390–2404. doi:10.1002/ece3.1942. ISSN   2045-7758. PMC   4783458 . PMID   27066230.
  27. ↑ Taylor-Smith, B. L.; Trewick, S. A.; Morgan-Richards, M. (2016). "Three new ground wētā species and a redescription of Hemiandrus maculifrons". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 43 (4): 363–383. doi:10.1080/03014223.2016.1205109. ISSN   0301-4223. S2CID   88565199.
  28. ↑ Trewick, Steven A. (2021). "A new species of large Hemiandrus ground wētā (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae) from North Island, New Zealand". Zootaxa. 4942 (2): 207–218. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4942.2.4 . ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   33757066.
  29. ↑ Johns, Peter (2001). "Distribution and conservation status of ground weta, Hemiandrus species (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae)". Science for Conservation. 180– via New Zealand Department of Conservation.
  30. ↑ Smith, BL Taylor; Morgan-Richards, M.; Trewick, S. A. (2013). "New Zealand ground wētā (Anostostomatidae: Hemiandrus): descriptions of two species with notes on their biology". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 40 (4): 314–329. doi: 10.1080/03014223.2013.804422 . ISSN   0301-4223.
  31. ↑ Fea, Murray P.; Mark, Cassandra J.; Holwell, Gregory I. (2019). "Sexually dimorphic antennal structures of New Zealand Cave Wētā (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 46 (2): 124–148. doi:10.1080/03014223.2018.1520266. ISSN   0301-4223. S2CID   91313050.
  32. ↑ Hegg, Danilo; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steven A. (2022). "High alpine sorcerers: revision of the cave wētā genus Pharmacus Pictet & de Saussure (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Macropathinae), with the description of six new species and three new subspecies". European Journal of Taxonomy (808): 1–58–1–58. doi: 10.5852/ejt.2022.808.1721 . ISSN   2118-9773. S2CID   247971884.
  33. ↑ "Cave Weta Ecology". Wētā Getter. Massey University. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  34. 1 2 Richards, Aola M. (1961). "Some Observations on New Zealand Cave-wetas". Tuatara. 9 (2): 80–83.
  35. ↑ Hegg, Danilo; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steven A. (2019). "Diversity and distribution of Pleioplectron Hutton cave wētā (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Macropathinae), with the synonymy of Weta Chopard and the description of seven new species". European Journal of Taxonomy (577). doi: 10.5852/ejt.2019.577 . ISSN   2118-9773. S2CID   209576180.
  36. ↑ "Eel's costly snack". The New Zealand Herald . 16 May 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  37. ↑ Roy, Eleanor Ainge (21 October 2016). "From a draughty hut to Hollywood: the rise of Peter Jackson's secretive animation giant". The Guardian .

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