- Deinacrida heteracantha
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Deinacrida heteracantha 
Conservation status Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Orthoptera Family: Anostostomatidae Genus: Deinacrida Species: D. heteracantha Binomial name Deinacrida heteracantha
White, 1842Deinacrida heteracantha, also known as the Little Barrier Island giant weta, is a species of insect, a type of cricket in family Anostostomatidae that has no wings. It is endemic to New Zealand, naturally surviving now only on Little Barrier Island. It was formerly found on the mainland (see Trewick & Morgan-Richards (2004: 187, fig. 1B) for details of early records). It was redescribed under the synonymous name Hemideina gigantea by Colenso (1881), based on a specimen collected 'in a small low wood behind Paihia, Bay of Islands', in 1838. This specimen is still preserved in the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and can be seen here. Records of this species from the North Island mainland at Mahoenui (Watt, 1963) were later recognised as a distinct species, described as new by Gibbs (1999), as Deinacrida mahoenui.
A Little Barrier Island giant weta, captured and photographed on Little Barrier Island, February, 2011
It is the heaviest insect alive today. The largest specimen, a female, weighed 71g (2.5oz), three times heavier than the average house mouse, and was more than 85mm (3.4in) long.[1]
References
- Colenso, W. 1881: On some new and undescribed species of New Zealand insects of the orders Orthoptera and Coleoptera. Transactions and proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 14: 277-280. [publication date: 1882?] BUGZ
- Gibbs, G.W. 1999: Four new species of giant weta, Deinacrida (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae: Deinacridinae) from New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 29(4): 307-324. ISSN: 0303-6758 doi:10.1080/03014223.1999.9517600
- Trewick, S.A.; Morgan-Richards, M. 2004: Phylogenetics of New Zealand's tree, giant and tusked weta (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae): evidence from mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Orthoptera research, 13(2): 185-196. ISSN 1082-6467 JSTOR
- Watt, J.C. 1963: The rediscovery of a giant weta, Deinacrida heteracantha, on the North Island mainland. New Zealand entomologist, 3(2): 9-13. ISSN: 0077-9962 BUGZ
Source
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996. Deinacrida heteracantha. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 9 August 2007.
- ^ QI: Quite Interesting facts about bugs, the weta is pictured
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