The Giant Weta
New Zealand’s isolated ecosystem allowed the giant weta—an armored, cricket-like insect—to evolve without pressure from native mammalian predators.
When you accurately weigh these deeply fascinating insects, the females routinely violently tip the sensitive scales at an incredible seventy grams, officially making them some of the heaviest documented insects ever recorded. Males consistently remain substantially much lighter and smaller.
The female requires this bulk to operate her ovipositor, a long, sword-like appendage extending from her abdomen. She uses physical force to drive this ovipositor into the soil.
