Australian flying weta found in Northland

The Australian winged weta has arrived in the Far North. Photo / Supplied

A carnivorous flying Aussie invader has arrived in the Far North, but nobody knows, yet, how much impact it will have on the environment.

Entomologist Dr Jenny Dymock said the Australian winged weta - Pteropotrechus species - had established itself in the Far North.

Two specimens had been found at Cable Bay, one in a letterbox and the other in a children's paddling pool, this month.

The Australian weta, also known in Australia as the king cricket, was about 30-35mm long. It arrived in New Zealand in 1990, she said, but until now had only been recorded in Auckland, South Auckland and the Coromandel.

Nocturnal, and thought to be carnivorous, it was very similar in appearance to the New Zealand tree weta, with spiny legs and "impressive jaws", but it had wings when fully mature. All New Zealand weta were wingless and flightless.

Dymock was unable to say whether it would be a problem in the Far North, where it had probably made its way as a hitchhiker.

Despite its presence in Auckland and the Coromandel for 30 years, no one had studied any effects it might be having.

"It is carnivorous, so it could possibly have some effects down the food chain," she said.

University of Auckland entomologist John Early said Australian weta had been found in clothes left on the line overnight, under outdoor furniture and even in garden hoses. They were a stroppy species, she said.

"Go near it and it splays its wings, opens its jaws and displays the spines on its legs," he said.

His own experience with the insect also indicated that its bite was quite powerful, although not powerful enough to draw blood.

Dr Dymock said it was probably too late to eliminate it in the Far North, so squashing it would make no difference, and it would be a shame if "our precious New Zealand weta" were to be misidentified as the Australian variety.

The winged weta is described as "a golden-brown" insect.

Adults have enlarged hind legs, the males often being larger than the females. It has long filamentous antennae; rows of large spines on the fore-tibiae, and adults of both sexes are fully winged.

Adult females have a 15mm long slender curved swordlike ovipositor (tubular organ through which a female deposits eggs).

The forewings are soft and pliable, and wrap around the body behind the pronotum. They extend a little beyond the tip of the abdomen.