In two separate papers, a new species of tokoriro from Rakiura / Stewart Island and five species of ground wētā from New Zealand’s South Island have been described
Insulanoplectron stanneum adult male. Tin Range mine shaft, Rakiura / Stewart Island. Photo © Danilo Hegg
A new species of tokoriro from Rakiura / Stewart Island
With colleagues Steve Trewick and Mary Morgan-Richards from Massey University, Wētā Conservation Charitable Trust chair Danilo Hegg described a new species of tokoriro from Rakiura / Stewart Island.
Insulanoplectron stanneum sp. nov. was discovered in February 2018 while on a tramping and pack-rafting journey from Oban to Gog, Magog, Bald Cone and back. It took another seven years to obtain the material required for comparison with the most closely related species, Insulanoplectron spinosum from Tini Heke / Snares Islands. This is the first time that the genus Insulanoplectron, previously thought to be endemic to the sub-antarctic archipelago, has been documented on mainland New Zealand.
The new species of tokoriro is currently only known from an abandoned, partially flooded tin mine shaft at the southern end of the Tin Range. Its habitat and ecology remain unknown. The Latin adjective stanneus means ‘made out of tin’.
Hemiandrus johnsi sp. nov. adult female. Pioneer Park, Opihi River, South Canterbury. Photo © Danilo Hegg
Five species of ground wētā from New Zealand’s South Island
In a second paper published in the same volume, Steve Trewick and Mary Morgan-Richards formally named and described five species of ground wētā from New Zealand’s South Island. All five species had been previously identified and characterized by Christchurch entomologist Peter Johns (2001). It is only fitting then that one of these species should be named after Peter Johns himself.
All five species are already listed in the latest NZTCS assessment of New Zealand Orthoptera (2022), where they are identified by their tag names. You can read more about the use of tag names in New Zealand taxonomy here.
Hemiandrus johnsi sp. nov. in fact includes not one but two entities that were given tag names by Peter Johns (2001), Hemiandrus ‘timaru’ and H. ‘porters’. The former is listed ‘Not Threatened’ in the latest NZTCS assessment of New Zealand Orthoptera (2022), whereas the latter is listed ‘At Risk, Naturally Uncommon’. The separate listing is, however, unjustified, since the two entities are one and the same. Hemiandrus johnsi has a continuous geographic distribution in the east of the South Island from North Otago to Porters Pass in Mid Canterbury. It is a very adaptable insect that occupies diverse habitats, including urban parks in Timaru, native forests, lowland and low alpine grasslands, sandy river terraces and sub-alpine screes.
Hemiandrus briarae sp. nov. adult female. Kahutara Saddle, Seaward Kaikōura Range. Photo © Danilo Hegg
Hemiandrus briarae sp. nov. is arguably one of New Zealand’s most beautiful ground wētā. A moderately large species, it inhabits low alpine habitats in the mountains in the north east of the South Island. It is especially common in the Kaikōura Ranges.
Previously known under the tag names Hemiandrus ‘hapuku’ (Johns 2001, Trewick et al. 2022) and Hemiandrus ‘Tapuae-o-Uenuku’ (Sherley 1998, McGuinness 2001), H. briarae is listed ‘At Risk, Naturally Uncommon’ in the latest NZTCS assessment of New Zealand Orthoptera (2022). The species is named for Briar Taylor-Smith, who in her PhD (2015) picked up the work on ground wētā taxonomy where Peter Johns had left it, and started using molecular methods to test the validity of the many taxa proposed by Johns (2001).
Hemiandrus dryadis adult female. Cave Brook, Gouland Downs, Kahurangi National Park. Photo © Danilo Hegg
Hemiandrus dryadis sp. nov. is a large, elegant ground wētā with a curved back and a long ovipositor. Orange to bright red in colour, it is very similar to the North Island’s Hemiandrus jacinda. Like the latter, it is exclusively a forest species, hence its name, derived from ‘dryad’, a nymph who inhabits and protects trees in ancient Greek mythology.
Previously known under the tag name Hemiandrus ‘disparalis’ (Johns 2001), H. dryadis is listed ‘Not Threatened’ in the latest NZTCS assessment of New Zealand Orthoptera (2022). The species is common and widespread in forests in the north-west corner of the South Island, from Denniston Plateau to Kahurangi and Abel Tasman National Parks, the Nelson Lakes region and the Marlborough Sounds.
Tekapo ground wētā (Hemiandrus fabella), adult female. Patersons Terrace, Tekapo. Photo © Maddy Pye
Hemiandrus fabella sp. nov., commonly referred to as ‘Tekapo ground wētā’, is a small dryland wētā that is widespread on bare, sandy soils throughout the Mackenzie Basin. The species name means ‘little bean’, after its small, compact body shape. It was previously known as Hemiandrus ‘furoviarius’ (Johns 2001).
The Tekapo ground wētā is listed ‘Threatened, Nationally Endangered‘ in the latest NZTCS assessment of New Zealand Orthoptera (2022). Its main threats are habitat loss as drylands in the Mackenzie Country are converted to agricultural use, and predation by introduced mammals, primarily hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus). Hemiandrus fabella was the subject of Wētā Conservation Charitable Trust co-founder and trustee Maddy Pye’s MSc study (2022). Maddy found that the population of H. fabella on Patersons Terrace near Tekapo benefited greatly from a predator-exclusion fence, most likely because of reduced predator pressure by hedgehogs.
Hemiandrus mataitai adult male. Sutton Salt Lake, Middlemarch. Photo © Danilo Hegg
Hemiandrus mataitai sp. nov. is another small dryland wētā, similar to Hemiandrus fabella in its habitus and ecology, but genetically clearly distinct. It is currently only known from one location, Sutton Salt Lake near Middlemarch, Otago, and is listed as ‘Data Deficient’ in the latest NZTCS assessment of New Zealand Orthoptera (2022). Only male specimens have ever been collected. Adult females have never been documented thus far, in spite of a search effort exceeding a dozen nights. This suggests that females may lay eggs early on and that they may be reluctant to leave their burrow thereafter.
The Māori word mātaitai means ‘salinity’, after the insect’s type locality. Hemiandrus mataitai was previously known as Hemiandrus ‘rocklands’. The paper’s authors erroneously attribute the species’ first record to an iNaturalist observation dating back to 2016. The species was in fact included in the 1998 Threatened Wētā Recovery Plan (Sherley 1998) and had a page dedicated to it in McGuinness 2001.
Research articles:
Hegg D., Trewick S.A. & Morgan-Richards M. 2026. A new species of tokoriro in the genus Insulanoplectron Richards (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae) from Rakiura / Stewart Island. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 53(1): e70008. https://doi.org/10.1002/njz2.70008Trewick S.A. & Morgan-Richards M. 2026. Five new species of New Zealand Hemiandrus Ander, 1938 ground wētā (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 53(1): e70007. https://doi.org/10.1002/njz2.70007
Johns P.M. 2001. Distribution and conservation status of ground weta, Hemiandrus species (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae). Science for Conservation 180. Department of Conservation, Wellington, NZ. 25pp. https://www.doc.govt.nz/documents/science-and-technical/Sfc180.pdf
McGuinness C.A. 2001. The conservation requirements of New Zealand’s nationally threatened invertebrates. Threatened Species Occasional Publication 20. Department of Conservation, Wellington, NZ. 658pp. https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/tsop20a.pdf
Pye M.M. 2022. Big numbers of small wētā: Nationally Critical Tekapo ground wētā (Hemiandrus ‘furoviarius’) benefit from predator-exclusion fence. Unpublished MSc Thesis. University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ. 46pp.
Taylor-Smith B.L. 2015. Evolution of diversity: analysis of species and speciation in Hemiandrus ground wētā. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Massey University, Palmerston North, NZ. 226pp.
Trewick S.A., Hegg D., Morgan-Richards M., Murray T.J., Watts C., Johns P.M. & Michel P. 2022. Conservation status of Orthoptera (wētā, crickets and grasshoppers) in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2022. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 39. Department of Conservation, Wellington, NZ. 28pp. https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/science-and-technical/nztcs39entire.pdf
