Wētāpunga

Deinacrida heteracantha · Wētāpunga is a giant, flightless wētā endemic to New Zealand, found only on Hauturu (Little Barrier Island).

Also called Little Barrier giant wētā, Little Barrier Island giant wētā.

Wētāpunga
Photo: Auckland Museum Collections from Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, CC BY 2.0
Wētāpunga
Photo: Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain
Wētāpunga
Photo: Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderOrthoptera
FamilyAnostostomatidae
GenusDeinacrida
SpeciesDeinacrida heteracantha

Where it lives

Hauturu-o-Toi and a few predator-free sites in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf.

Fun facts

  • Despite having no wings, wētāpunga can deliver a surprisingly powerful kick with their hind legs.
  • After incubating in soil for roughly 125 days, only about 36% of wētāpunga eggs actually survive to hatch.
  • When defending itself, a wētāpunga makes rasping sounds with a main frequency peak around 20 kHz.
  • After invasive rats were removed from Little Barrier Island, the wētāpunga population quadrupled within six years.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).