wētā
1. (noun) wētā - large insects of various species found in trees and caves. There are five broad groups of wētā: tree wētā (pūtangatanga), ground wētā, cave wētā (tokoriro), giant wētā (wētā punga) and tusked wētā. They are active at night and all Aotearoa/New Zealand species are wingless. The females have a long, egg-laying spike at the back.
Ka toa ko Tāne. Whāia, nāna te tini o ngā tamariki a Whiro i kāhaki ki te whenua - te waeroa, te namupoto, te naonao, te wētā, te pepe, te rango, te kōwhitiwhiti (Te Ara 2013). / Tāne was victorious and took Whiro’s many birds and insects down to earth - mosquitoes, small sandflies, midges, stick insects and praying mantises, wētā, moths and butterflies, blowflies and grasshoppers.
See also pūtangatanga, tokoriro, wētā punga
