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Weta
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<p><strong>Weta</strong> is the name <font color="#000000">applied to about 70 insect species endemic to New Zealand. There are many similar species around the world, most are in the southern hemisphere. The name comes from the Māori word 'wētā' and is the same in the plural (like 'sheep'). The Māori for the Giant Weta is 'wētā punga' (lumpy or jointed weta), sometimes rendered in English as 'god of ugly things'.</font></p>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font color="#000000">General characteristics</font></span></h2>
<p><font color="#000000">Many weta are large by insect standards and some species are among the largest and heaviest in the world. Their physical appearance is like a katydid or long-horned grasshopper or a cricket, but the hind legs are enlarged and usually very spiny. Many are wingless. Because they can cope with variations in temperature, weta are found in a variety of environments including alpine, forests, grasslands, caves, shrub lands and urban gardens. They are nocturnal and all New Zealand species are flightless. Different species have different diets. Most weta are predators or omnivores preying on other invertebrates, but the tree and giant weta eat mostly lichens, leaves, flowers, seed-heads and fruit.</font></p>
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<div style="WIDTH: 252px" class="thumbinner"><font color="#000000"><img class="thumbimage" alt="" width="250" height="187" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Defensive_tree_weta.jpg/250px-Defensive_tree_weta.jpg" width="250" height="187" /> </font>
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<font color="#000000">Defensive male Wellington tree weta</font></div>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font color="#000000">Taxonomy and evolution</font></span></h2>
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<div style="WIDTH: 252px" class="thumbinner"><font color="#000000"><img class="thumbimage" alt="" width="250" height="166" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e6/WetaClimbing.jpg/250px-WetaClimbing.jpg" width="250" height="166" /> </font>
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<font color="#000000">Tree weta climbing</font></div>
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<h3><span class="mw-headline"><font color="#000000">Giant weta</font></span></h3>
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<div style="WIDTH: 252px" class="thumbinner"><font color="#000000"><img class="thumbimage" alt="" width="250" height="152" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Knights.weta.750pix.jpg/250px-Knights.weta.750pix.jpg" width="250" height="152" /> </font>
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<font color="#000000">Poor Knights giant weta (<em>Deinacrida fallai</em>) - this specimen has an overall length of 200 mm (8 in)</font></div>
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<p><font color="#000000"><strong>Tree weta</strong> (<em>Hemideina</em>) are those most commonly encountered in suburban settings in the North Island. 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 weta and any growth of the bark surrounding the opening is chewed away. They readily occupy a preformed gallery in a piece of wood (a weta motel) and can be kept in a suburban garden as pets. A gallery might house a harem of up to ten juveniles of both sexes, females and one male. Tree weta are nocturnal. Their diet consists of plants and small insects. The males, which usually have much larger jaws than the females, hiss and bite when threatened.</font></p>
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<div style="WIDTH: 252px" class="thumbinner"><font color="#000000"><img class="thumbimage" alt="" width="250" height="188" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Tree_weta.jpg/250px-Tree_weta.jpg" width="250" height="188" /> </font>
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<font color="#000000">Female Wellington tree weta</font></div>
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<div style="WIDTH: 120px; MARGIN-LEFT: auto; MARGIN-RIGHT: auto"><font color="#000000"><img alt="" width="120" height="89" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bc/Weta5.jpg/120px-Weta5.jpg" width="120" height="89" /></font></div>
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<h2><span class="mw-headline"><font color="#000000">External links</font></span></h2>
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<li><a class="external text" title="http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/podcover.aspx?id=33170" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/podcover.aspx?id=33170" rel="nofollow"><font color="#000080">New Zealand Department of Conservation’s page on weta</font></a> </li> <li><a class="external text" title="http://johnbokma.com/weta/" rel="nofollow" href="http://johnbokma.com/weta/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#000080">Weta from New Zealand</font></a> </li> <li><a class="external text" title="http://weta.boarsnest.net/" rel="nofollow" href="http://weta.boarsnest.net/" rel="nofollow"><font color="#000080">The Weta of New Zealand</font></a> </li> <li><a class="external text" title="http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biodiversity/invertebratesprog/invertid/order_page.asp?Or_ID=18" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biodiversity/invertebratesprog/invertid/order_page.asp?Or_ID=18" rel="nofollow"><font color="#000080">Bug identification - Orthoptera</font></a> </li> <li><a class="external text" title="http://www.kcc.org.nz/animals/weta.asp" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kcc.org.nz/animals/weta.asp" rel="nofollow"><font color="#000080">Kiwi Conservation Club</font></a> </li> <li><a class="external text" title="http://web.mac.com/clintkelly1/iWeb/Site/Home.html" rel="nofollow" href="http://web.mac.com/clintkelly1/iWeb/Site/Home.html" rel="nofollow"><font color="#000080">Sexual selection research on weta</font></a> </li> <li><a class="external text" title="http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/InsectsAndOtherInvertebrates/Weta/en" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/InsectsAndOtherInvertebrates/Weta/en" rel="nofollow"><em><font color="#000080">Wētā</font></em></a> in Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand </li>
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