Tree wētā
Tree wētā are wētā in the genus Hemideina of the family Anostostomatidae. The genus is endemic to New Zealand.[2] There are seven species within the genus Hemideina, found throughout the country except lowland Otago and Southland.[3] Because many tree wētā species are common and widespread they have been used extensively in studies of ecology[4] and evolution.[5]
Tree wētā are commonly encountered in forests and suburban gardens throughout most of New Zealand. They are up to 40 mm long and most commonly live in holes in trees formed by beetle and moth larvae 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.[6]
Tree wētā are nocturnal and arboreal, hiding in hollow tree branches during the day and feeding at night.[7] Their diet consists of leaves, flowers, fruit and small insects.[8][9] Males have larger heads and stronger jaws than females, though both sexes will stridulate and bite when threatened.[10]
The three North Island tree wētā species are closely related[22] but each has a distinctive set of chromosomes (karyotype).[23] 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.[20]
