Motuweta
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Motuweta is a genus consisting of two species of tusked weta in the family Anostostomatidae. There is a third species of tusked weta in a different genus, the Northland tusked weta, Anisoura nicobarica. All three species are endemic to New Zealand.
Tusked weta are distinctive because the males have long curved tusks projecting forward from their jaws. The tusks are used to push an opponent; they are not used for biting. The females are similar to ground weta (genus Hemiandrus). Tusked weta are mainly carnivorous, eating worms and insects.
The Middle Island tusked weta, also called the Mercury Island tusked weta after the islands on which it lives, was only discovered in 1970. It is a ground-dwelling weta, covering its shallow burrows with leaves. The Middle Island weta is the most endangered weta species and a Department of Conservation breeding program is establishing new colonies on other islands of the Mercury Island group. The Raukumara tusked weta was discovered even more recently, in 1996, in the Raukumara Range near the Bay of Plenty. There are probably more species still to be identified.
[edit] Species
- Motuweta isolata Johns, 1997 Middle Island tusked weta
- Motuweta riparia Gibbs, 2002 Raukumara tusked weta
