Wonderful wētā of Aotearoa

Source: NZ Department of Conservation

Imagine, you’re sitting on the dunny late at night after a long day of tramping up to a beautiful backcountry hut. It’s pitch black and you feel something brush against your leg… “It’s just a leaf in the passing breeze” you say to yourself.

Slowly you feel the unmistakable sensation of six tiny legs making their way up the inside of your pants. What do you do?

Keep calm. There’s no reason to panic!

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Backcountry toilet at Eyre Mountains/Taka Rā Haka. 📷: Lyn Trewella

Despite their intimidating size, spiky legs, and sometimes fearsome-looking tusks, wētā are an essential part of New Zealand’s ecosystems, and many are now threatened or endangered.

While they have a fearsome reputation, most wētā aren’t aggressive and will only bite if they feel threatened. Despite popular belief, wēta don’t even have a stinger – that ominous looking spike at the end of their abdomen is actually an ovipositor, which the females uses to lay her eggs.

Tree weta in tree on Stephens Island.

Female tree wētā on Stephens Island/Takapourewa. 📷: Sabine Bernert ©

Few creatures capture uniqueness quite like the wētā. Often described as “living fossils,” these large, flightless insects have been around since the time of the dinosaurs and have evolved into more than 100 species.

Wētā are grouped into five broad types based on their appearance and behaviour. Let’s take a closer look at each of these remarkable groups:

Tree Wētā: the backyard battlers

Tree wētā are the species most New Zealanders are likely to encounter. They live in forests and even suburban gardens, hiding by day in holes in trees. These insects are surprisingly social. A single hole can house multiple females and juveniles, but typically only one dominant male. That’s because male tree wētā are highly territorial, using their enlarged heads and powerful jaws to fight rivals for breeding rights.

Primarily herbivorous, they feed on leaves and fruit, although like many wētā species, they may occasionally eat other insects.

Tree wētā highlights:

• Widespread amongst forests and backyards
• Live in tree cavities
• Social groups with dominant males
• Notable for their dramatic fights

Tree wētā. 📷: Kyle Bland

Ground Wētā: the burrowing builders

Ground wētā spend most of their lives hidden below the surface. They dig and inhabit burrows under logs, stones, or soil, emerging at night to forage. Compared with their tree-dwelling cousins, they are less visible and less well known. However, they share the same nocturnal habits and omnivorous diet typical of many wētā.

Ground wētā highlights:

• Burrow-dwelling
• Nocturnal and secretive
• Found in soil, grassland, and forest floor habitats

Ground wētā. 📷: William Brockelsby

Cave Wētā: long-legged leapers

Cave wētā belong to a slightly different family from other wētā and are adapted to life in dark, damp environments such as caves, rock crevices, and forest undergrowth. They are typically smaller-bodied but have extremely long, slender legs and antennae. These adaptations allow them to navigate their environment and make impressive leaps, an essential survival skill in dark caves.

Cave wētā highlights:

• Found in caves and dark habitats
• Long legs and antennae
• Excellent jumpers
• Often called “jumping wētā”

Cave wētā. 📷: Shellie Evans

Giant Wētā: heavyweights of the insect world

Giant wētā (wētāpunga) are among the largest and heaviest insects on Earth. The Little Barrier Island giant wētā is the biggest of them all, while other species vary in size across the country.

These gentle giants are mostly herbivorous and tend to live solitary lives. Many species are now restricted to offshore islands or protected sanctuaries due to predation by introduced mammals like rats and stoats.

The Mahoenui giant wētā managed to survive predation in a single patch of introduced gorse on farmland in the King Country.

Giant wētā highlights:

• They’re among the world’s heaviest insects
• Mostly herbivorous
• Often solitary
• Many species are endangered

Mahoenui giant wētā. 📷: Amanda Haigh

Tusked Wētā: rare and mysterious

Perhaps the strangest of all are the tusked wētā. Males have long, curved mandibles (tusks), which they use in combat and display. There are only a few known species, and some have been discovered relatively recently, highlighting how much there is still to learn about New Zealand’s elusive insects.

Tusked wētā highlights:

• Distinctive curved tusks (in males)
• Rare and not well understood
• Some species are carnivorous

Mercury Island tusked wētā. 📷: Chris Winks

Adaptation and Survival

Across all five groups, wētā share some common traits:

• They are nocturnal, emerging at night to feed
• They occupy a wide range of habitats, from forests to caves to alpine zones
• Many species are threatened due to introduced predators and habitat loss

Conservation efforts, including predator control and translocations to safe habitats, are essential to ensuring the survival of these remarkable insects.

Captive breeding of Mahoenui giant wētā at Otorohanga Kiwi House. 📷: Oto Kiwi House

Why care about wētā?

Wētā are more than just odd-looking insects, they are a symbol of New Zealand’s ancient and fragile biodiversity. With species still being discovered and others hanging on in isolated habitats, they remind us how much there is still to learn and protect in the natural world.

So next time you hear a rustle in the bush at night – or spot a spiny visitor in a tree cavity – take a closer look. You might just be meeting one of Aotearoa’s most extraordinary survivors.

One NZ partnership

DOC partners with One NZ to bring mobile services and industry-leading technology to the frontline of conservation.

Check out One NZ’s new partnership video featuring the Mahoenui giant wētā: