Those of you that know me know that I love me some insects, and I've seen some great ones so far during my time in New Zealand.
This past week we stayed in an area on the Coromandel Peninsula called Opoutere to study the nearby estuarine ecosystem. I saw all kinds of plant and animal species I'd never encountered, including three insects I've been on the hunt for. One night 3 puriri moths visited our hostel. Puriri moths are NZ's largest moth, and they are endemic to the North Island. The beautiful green moths live in holes they bore in the sides of trees--usually the puriri tree, but sometimes others, such as marble leafs. They are preyed on by an owl called the morepork, which earned its name from it's call, which sounds exactly like it's saying "more pork!" Once puriri moths leave their trees, the holes are taken over by another fascinating insect: the weta.
The puriri moth clinging to our screen door:
Weta are seriously the coolest thing ever. Picture a cricket, but huge. I mean HUGE. There are five different types of weta: tree weta, ground weta, giant weta, cave weta, and tusked weta. All of them exhibit traits characteristic of endemic NZ species: they are nocturnal and they are giant. Some species of weta are in danger; the giant weta went extinct on the mainland about 100 years ago, and is currently being rehabilitated. Tree weta are still quite common in NZ bush, especially in this area of the North Island, and since we saw some puriri moths, I thought I might be able to find a weta. So two friends and I got our headlamps and went for a late night bushwalk. We managed to find one weta emerging tail end first from an old moth hole. We could only see it's back half, because it stopped coming out of the hole when we shined a light on it, but I could already tell how huge it was! That weekend in Waitomo I had the opportunity to see cave weta during a tour and also while exploring some small caverns off of a short trail. Cave weta have bodies that are shorter in length than giant weta but with extremely long antennae and legs, which can be up to four times their body length. It was such a great surprise to look up at the ceiling of a small cavern I was crawling through and see about 20 cave weta peering down at me (for more information on the weta, check out this site: http://terranature.org/weta.htm).
The reason we toured the Waitomo caves was to see another creepy crawly creature: the glowworm. Waitomo caves are famous for the worms that stick to their highest ceilings, which are the larvae of the fungus gnat. A chemical reaction in their excretory systems produces bioluminescent poo, which appears like a little bluish green dot. The light attracts insects towards the worm, which suspends a silky, mucus-coated strand from its abdomen to trap the insects. They only eat about 5 insects during their entire lives. They live for about 13 months as larvae, but only 3 days as adult flies. The adults do not have mouths to feed with and spend the entire time reproducing and buzzing around the cave. On our journey to see these spectacular creatures, we climbed, swam, and tubed through the freezing cave waters. It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done, and it was well worth braving the freezing water to see the ceiling of a cave illuminated by worms, like stars in a pitch-black sky.
Me tubing underneath the glowworms in Waitomo!:
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