A big ‘Thank you’ to Twisted Frequency Festival
June 12, 2026
Thank you to David Tait and Twisted Frequency Festival for supporting the Wētā Conservation Charitable Trust
To safeguard Aotearoa’s unique wētā by engaging, empowering, and educating communities to help preserve their species diversity and restore their habitats
The Wētā Conservation Charitable Trust aims to preserve New Zealand’s biodiversity so that wētā, grasshoppers and allied insects (Orthoptera) and their natural habitat are protected to benefit present and future New Zealanders.
Video credit: Otago Polytechnic ADT3 branding class 2024
The most recent assessment of the threat classification status of New Zealand Orthoptera (2022) recognizes 162 taxa, not all of which have been described; 157 of these are native. Of 157 taxa, 18 are listed as “Threatened”, 27 are “At Risk”, 17 are “Data Deficient”. The main threat to all of our endangered Orthoptera is predation by introduced mammals, followed by habitat loss.
Learn more about our threatened species.
Our Projects
Monitoring of the Nationally Endangered giant wētā Deinacrida pluvialis across the Southern Alps, between Fiordland National Park and the Taramakau River.
Filling in any gaps in our knowledge of New Zealand’s orthopteran biodiversity by delimiting and describing new and unresolved taxa.
Latest News
Thank you to David Tait and Twisted Frequency Festival for supporting the Wētā Conservation Charitable Trust
A predator exclusion fence was built in the drylands of Patersons Terrace, Tekapo, in 2018 to protect the Nationally Endangered robust grasshopper. While any benefit to this species is yet to be proven, the Nationally Endangered Tekapo ground wētā has been found inside the enclosure at densities almost five times higher than on the outside.
“This is the story of how dedicated people prevented this giant of an insect from going extinct. It recounts the adventures they had, the joy of discovery and despondence of failure, the cooperation and support they had, the risks they took and the mistakes they made”.