New Zealand's Giant Wētāpunga Recovery Is Now a Blueprint for Saving Insects
Fifteen years of captive breeding and island releases lifted the world's heaviest insect from "Nationally Endangered" to "Nationally Increasing."
The wētāpunga (*Deinacrida heteracantha*), a giant New Zealand wētā, is making a comeback. A new scientific paper, announced by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) on October 2, 2026, sets out how a captive breeding and release programme turned around the fortunes of a species once confined to a single island.
What happened
Wētāpunga were once reduced to a small population on Little Barrier Island (Te Hauturu-o-Toi). Surveys between 2005 and 2009 showed it was too small to supply wild animals for translocations, so conservationists began breeding the insects in captivity at Butterfly Creek, later joined by a second colony at Auckland Zoo in 2012.
Key figures from the programme:
- About 11,000 wētāpunga raised in captivity were released over 15 years
- 45 translocations to 10 new wild sites: eight predator-free islands and two fenced mainland sanctuaries
- Threat status improved from "Threatened – Nationally Endangered" in 2004 to "Threatened – Nationally Increasing" in 2022
The results are published in the *New Zealand Journal of Zoology*, led by Dr Chris Green, an Honorary Research Associate with DOC.
Why it matters
Insects rarely get the conservation attention given to birds, yet many are highly threatened. DOC says intensive monitoring on Motuora and Tiritiri Matangi islands shows at least four generations have been born in the wild, a sign a population is established. The lessons are already being applied to breeding Māhoenui giant wētā at Ōtorohanga Kiwi House, and Green says other critically endangered invertebrates, such as the Canterbury knobbled weevil, could benefit.
The people behind it
Ngāti Manuhiri, kaitiaki and mana whenua of Little Barrier Island, for whom wētāpunga are a taonga species, supported the work. Community restoration groups also helped with fundraising, releases and monitoring.
Context
Other island populations are still approaching the four-generation milestone, and the species remains reliant on predator-free habitat and continued management.
