Tree wētā explained

Tree wētā are wētā in the genus Hemideina of the family Anostostomatidae. The genus is endemic to New Zealand.[1] There are seven species within the genus Hemideina, found throughout the country except lowland Otago and Southland.[2] Because many tree wētā species are common and widespread they have been used extensively in studies of ecology[3] and evolution.[4]

Habitat

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.[5]

Behaviour

Tree wētā are nocturnal and arboreal, hiding in hollow tree branches during the day and feeding at night.[6] Their diet consists of leaves, flowers, fruit and small insects.[7] [8] Males have larger heads and stronger jaws than females, though both sexes will stridulate and bite when threatened.[9]

Species

The seven species of tree wētā are:

Auckland tree wētā, Hemideina thoracica (White, 1846)[10]
  • Also known as tokoriro;[11] [12] found throughout the North Island apart from the Wellington-Wairarapa region.[1] [4] Within this range are nine chromosome races[13] [14] and there are five hybrid zones where six of these races meet.
    Hawke's Bay tree wētā, Hemideina trewicki Morgan-Richards, 1995[15]
  • Hawke's Bay.
    Wellington tree wētā, Hemideina crassidens (Blanchard, 1851)
  • Wellington, the Wairarapa, the northern part of the South Island, and the West Coast. They have been the subject of studies of coevolution,[16] [17] sexual selection,[18] hybridisation[19] and range shifts.
    Canterbury tree wētā, Hemideina femorata Hutton, 1898
  • Marlborough and Canterbury.
    Mountain stone wētā, Hemideina maori (Pictet & Saussure, 1891)
  • The drier areas of the central South Island high country, living above the treeline. This species abandoned life in the forest millions of years ago in favour of crevices and cavities under rocks.[20]
    Banks Peninsula tree wētā, Hemideina ricta Hutton, 1898
  • A rare species only found on Banks Peninsula.
    West Coast bush wētā, Hemideina broughi (Buller, 1896)
  • Overlaps with the Wellington tree wētā in Nelson and the northern West Coast.

    The three North Island tree wētā species are closely related[21] but each has a distinctive set of chromosomes (karyotype).[22] 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.[19]

    Notes and References

    1. 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 B: Biological Sciences. 363. 1508. 3427–3437. 10.1098/rstb.2008.0112. 0962-8436. 2607373. 18782727.
    2. Web site: Wētā – Tree Wētā. Gibbs. George. Te Ara, Encyclopedia of New Zealand. en. 2019-01-27.
    3. News: Exploring the concept of niche convergence in a land without rodents: the case of weta as small mammals. Griffin. M.. 2011. New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 2018-06-29. en.
    4. 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. en. 41. 3. 524–535. 10.1111/jbi.12224. 0305-0270.
    5. Wehi. Priscilla M.. Priscilla Wehi. Jorgensen. Murray. Morgan-Richards. Mary. 2013. Sex- and season-dependent behaviour in a flightless insect, the Auckland tree weta (Hemideina thoracica). New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 37. 1. 75–83.
    6. Web site: Tree wētā. www.visitzealandia.com. 2019-01-27.
    7. Wehi. Priscilla M.. Priscilla Wehi. Hicks. Brendan J.. 2010. Isotopic fractionation in a large herbivorous insect, the Auckland tree weta. Journal of Insect Physiology. 56. 12. 1877–1882. 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2010.08.005. 20709068. 0022-1910.
    8. Griffin. Melissa J.. Morgan-Richards. Mary. Trewick. Steve A.. 2011. Is the tree weta Hemideina crassidens an obligate herbivore?. New Zealand Natural Sciences. 36. 11–19.
    9. Book: Field, Laurence H.. The biology of wetas, king crickets and their allies. CABI Pub. 2001. 9780851994086. Wallingford, Oxon., UK. 559432458.
    10. http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1132065 Hemideina thoracica at OSF
    11. Web site: Wētā. Science Learning Hub. en. 2019-07-04.
    12. Web site: T.E.R:R.A.I.N - Taranaki Educational Resource: Research, Analysis and Information Network - Weta (Tree) Auckland (Hemideina thoracica). www.terrain.net.nz. 2019-07-04.
    13. Morgan-Richards. Mary. 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. en. 60. 4. 423–442. 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1997.tb01505.x. 0024-4066. free.
    14. Morgan-Richards. Mary. Wallis. Graham P.. 2003. A comparison of five hybrid zones of the weta Hemideina thoracica (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae): Degree of cytogenetic differentiation fails to predict zone width. Evolution. 57. 4. 849. 10.1554/0014-3820(2003)057[0849:acofhz]2.0.co;2. 12778554. 0014-3820.
    15. Morgan-Richards. Mary. 1995. A new species of tree weta from the North Island of New Zealand (Hemideina Stenopelmatidae: Orthoptera). New Zealand Entomologist. 18. 1. 15–23. 10.1080/00779962.1995.9721996. 0077-9962.
    16. Duthie. C. 2006. Seed dispersal by weta. Science. 311. 5767. 1575. 10.1126/science.1123544. 16543452.
    17. Wyman. Tarryn E.. Trewick. Steve A.. Morgan-Richards. Mary. Noble. Alasdair D. L.. 2010. Mutualism or opportunism? Tree fuchsia (Fuchsia excorticata) and tree weta (Hemideina) interactions. Austral Ecology. en. 36. 3. 261–268. 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02146.x. 1442-9985.
    18. Kelly. Clint D.. 2006. The Relationship Between Resource Control, Association with Females and Male Weapon Size in a Male Dominance Insect. Ethology. en. 112. 4. 362–369. 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2006.01193.x. 0179-1613.
    19. 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. en. 6. 8. 2390–2404. 10.1002/ece3.1942. 2045-7758. 4783458. 27066230.
    20. Book: Trewick, Steve. NZ Wild Life : introducing the weird and wonderful character of natural New Zealand. Morgan-Richards. Mary. Penguin. 2014. 9780143568896. Auckland, New Zealand. 881301862.
    21. Buckley. Thomas R.. Newcomb. Richard D.. Twort. Victoria G.. 2019-04-01. New Zealand Tree and Giant Wētā (Orthoptera) Transcriptomics Reveal Divergent Selection Patterns in Metabolic Loci. Genome Biology and Evolution. en. 11. 4. 1293–1306. 10.1093/gbe/evz070. 30957857. 6486805.
    22. Mckean. NE. Trewick. SA. Morgan-Richards. M. 2015. Comparative cytogenetics of North Island tree wētā in sympatry. New Zealand Journal of Zoology. en. 42. 2. 73–84. 10.1080/03014223.2015.1032984. 0301-4223.

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