Six new alpine species of New Zealand’s most unusual and beloved insect the weta have been discovered, but it is a bittersweet victory, with another piece of research describing the threat global warming poses for their snowy mountain habitat.
Weta belong to the same group of insects as crickets and grasshoppers, and there are between 70 and 100 species of weta endemic to New Zealand. They are wingless and nocturnal, and some, including the wetapunga, are among the heaviest insects in the world comparable to the weight of a sparrow.
Forests, grasslands, caves and alpine terrains once crawled with
PLATELL S PEOPLE: Eight months ago, I was introduced to the BBC s rising star Amol Rajan who asked me to be interviewed for a TV documentary he was making.
Senior black scientists have claimed that research culture in the UK is institutionally racist and is failing them after a Royal Society study found they hold just 3.5 per cent of professor posts.