208 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Art. XIV. — The StenopelmatidaB of Neiu Zealand. 



By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.R.S. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 4th November, 



1896.] 



Plates XII.-XIII. 



The StenopelmatidcB are a small but important family of he 

 Locustodea, distinguished by their long maxillary palpi and 

 compressed tarsi, which have no lateral lobes. None of the 

 New Zealand species show any trace of elytra, or wings. They 

 are widely spread over the warmer parts of the earth ; few, 

 however, are known from South America, and none from 

 Polynesia east of New Guinea and New Caledonia. They 

 appear to be more numerous and more varied in New Zealand 

 than in any other part of the world, for about thirty species, 

 included in twelve genera, are recorded in this paper, and no 

 doubt several others remain to be discovered.* Here they are 

 generally known by their Maori name of iveta. 



The family can be divided into two well-marked sub- 

 families — the Anostostomince, with pads on the lower surfaces 

 of their tarsi, and the Dolichopodince, without any pads. 

 Each of these sub-families can again be broken up into two 

 groups — the former by the presence or absence of auditory 

 pits on the fore tibiae, and the latter by the nature of the 

 movable spines which generally occur on the apices of the 

 femora. 



The wetas are nocturnal insects, and are not abundant. 

 Even in New Zealand, although common in places, they can- 

 not always be found when wanted, and this will partly account 

 for our ignorance of their habits. They are generally found 

 in the forest, either chmbing trees, or boring into the trunks, 

 or hiding under loose bark or among fallen and rotten wood ; 

 a few, however, live underground or under stones. Most of 

 them are solitary, but the cave-wetas live together in consider- 

 able numbers. All appear to climb well, but the larger 

 species of A^iostostomina have almost lost the power of jump- 

 ing ; the DolicJwpodina, however, hop and run swiftly. 



According to Mr. J. G. 0. Tepper, the food of these 

 animals consists mainly, if not entirely, of self-caught insects.! 



* Tepper gives New Zealand as a locality for Anostostoma atistralasia:, 

 but I think this must be a mistake. 



t " The Gryllacridce and Stenopelmatidcs of Australia," Trans. Roy 

 Soc. S. Australia, 1892, p. 172. 



