Here she is - a wētāpunga, made from wool, a few pipe cleaners (legs, ovipositor, mandibles), an old guitar string (antennae) and beads for eyes. Still one of the best, most challenging projects I've done to date #needlefelting #wētāpunga #nz
October 5, 2026 at 7:42 AM
Here she is - a wētāpunga, made from wool, a few pipe cleaners (legs, ovipositor, mandibles), an old guitar string (antennae) and beads for eyes. Still one of the best, most challenging projects I've done to date #needlefelting #wētāpunga #nz
Some nice news to start your Monday: Wētāpunga breeding program showing great results 🙂 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Some nice news to start your Monday: Wētāpunga breeding program showing great results 🙂 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
*Wetas are super interesting insects native to New Zealand. This is a pretty good example of the plushie toy. shop.visitzealandia.com/products/gia...
Giant Wētā Soft Toy
The Giant Wētā Soft Toy is an adorable plush version of New Zealand’s native wētāpunga. Wētāpunga is a New Zealand's giant wētā species and the biggest of this type. When fully grown they can even b...
shop.visitzealandia.com
July 15, 2025 at 8:04 PM
*Wetas are super interesting insects native to New Zealand. This is a pretty good example of the plushie toy. shop.visitzealandia.com/products/gia...
Big boom for Wētāpunga population celebrated
Big boom for Wētāpunga population celebrated
New Zealand's heaviest insect has been taking big steps toward a population boom, with the success of a ground-breaking breeding and conservation programme.
www.rnz.co.nz
October 2, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Big boom for Wētāpunga population celebrated
LotLWC boss monster done!! >:))
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
May 3, 2025 at 5:56 AM
LotLWC boss monster done!! >:))
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
Needle felted female wētāpunga in its natural habitat 🥰 It's anatomically correct, with abdominal segments and mandibles, and the colouring is spot on. I couldn't love it more ❤️❤️ #Entomology #Craft #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
June 6, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Needle felted female wētāpunga in its natural habitat 🥰 It's anatomically correct, with abdominal segments and mandibles, and the colouring is spot on. I couldn't love it more ❤️❤️ #Entomology #Craft #MWSecretSantaAoNZ
wētāpunga forever!
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2026 at 7:22 AM
wētāpunga forever!
The heaviest insect in the world — the wētāpunga, or giant wētā — is making a comeback 🧪
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
August 23, 2023 at 12:28 PM
The heaviest insect in the world — the wētāpunga, or giant wētā — is making a comeback 🧪
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Forget Fat Bear Week. It’s Fat Wētāpunga Week now
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2026 at 10:24 PM
Forget Fat Bear Week. It’s Fat Wētāpunga Week now
To celebrate this awesome wētapunga news, I feel like I should reshare a vid of the needle felted version I made for @sophiehunt.bsky.social last year!
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2026 at 7:35 AM
To celebrate this awesome wētapunga news, I feel like I should reshare a vid of the needle felted version I made for @sophiehunt.bsky.social last year!
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
I also took photos of her in my garden before packing her up 😂
June 6, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I also took photos of her in my garden before packing her up 😂
World's heaviest and most horrifying insect the “wētāpunga” has been brought back from extinction and it's heavier than a mouse
October 8, 2026 at 7:57 AM
World's heaviest and most horrifying insect the “wētāpunga” has been brought back from extinction and it's heavier than a mouse
‘The future is bright’:
breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
A female wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse. Its body can grow up to 10cm long (nearly 4in) and its leg span can be as wide as 20cm
| New Zealand | The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
A female wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse. Its body can grow up to 10cm long (nearly 4in) and its leg span can be as wide as 20cm
| New Zealand | The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2026 at 12:02 AM
‘The future is bright’:
breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
A female wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse. Its body can grow up to 10cm long (nearly 4in) and its leg span can be as wide as 20cm
| New Zealand | The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
A female wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse. Its body can grow up to 10cm long (nearly 4in) and its leg span can be as wide as 20cm
| New Zealand | The Guardian
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
If you, like me, need a break from *gestures* EVERYTHING, then why not vote for the wētāpunga for invertebrate of the year! Vulnerable, harmless, lorge chonks of the forest www.theguardian.com/environment/...
A gentle giant: the shy wētāpunga is adept at living in the shadows
New Zealand’s docile, solitary and elusive ‘god of ugly things’ does wonders for the forest-floor ecosystem
www.theguardian.com
April 3, 2025 at 4:51 PM
If you, like me, need a break from *gestures* EVERYTHING, then why not vote for the wētāpunga for invertebrate of the year! Vulnerable, harmless, lorge chonks of the forest www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Pleased to announce that I have been recruited by @kellywhyte.bsky.social to help out with her LotLWC project! :DD
Here's a #wip of the boss monster, the remains of a Wētāpunga that has been infested by some Cordyceps kirkii!
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
Here's a #wip of the boss monster, the remains of a Wētāpunga that has been infested by some Cordyceps kirkii!
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
April 25, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Pleased to announce that I have been recruited by @kellywhyte.bsky.social to help out with her LotLWC project! :DD
Here's a #wip of the boss monster, the remains of a Wētāpunga that has been infested by some Cordyceps kirkii!
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
Here's a #wip of the boss monster, the remains of a Wētāpunga that has been infested by some Cordyceps kirkii!
#art #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #wetapunga #cordyceps #Invertefest
Here's a lil video of the wētāpunga I made for #mwsecretsantaaonz. I was very happy when I saw that I'd been assigned @sophiehunt.bsky.social as my giftee, as she seems super cool (& is a fellow crafty science nerd). I'm THRILLED that she loves it ❤️
June 6, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Here's a lil video of the wētāpunga I made for #mwsecretsantaaonz. I was very happy when I saw that I'd been assigned @sophiehunt.bsky.social as my giftee, as she seems super cool (& is a fellow crafty science nerd). I'm THRILLED that she loves it ❤️
Komodo dragon versus wetapunga 😱
October 5, 2026 at 2:31 PM
Komodo dragon versus wetapunga 😱
And the wētāpunga you've likely already seen thanks to #mwsecretsantaaonz!
I'll keep the aforementioned insta updated with my projects and future classes (which are held in New Zealand, in Village Breads in Petone). So if #needlefelting is something you're keen on, and you use insta, please follow
I'll keep the aforementioned insta updated with my projects and future classes (which are held in New Zealand, in Village Breads in Petone). So if #needlefelting is something you're keen on, and you use insta, please follow
June 14, 2025 at 4:13 AM
And the wētāpunga you've likely already seen thanks to #mwsecretsantaaonz!
I'll keep the aforementioned insta updated with my projects and future classes (which are held in New Zealand, in Village Breads in Petone). So if #needlefelting is something you're keen on, and you use insta, please follow
I'll keep the aforementioned insta updated with my projects and future classes (which are held in New Zealand, in Village Breads in Petone). So if #needlefelting is something you're keen on, and you use insta, please follow
Wow, as a not crafty person the makers always blow me away and this time has been incredible!
Beanies, gloves, scarves, paintings, drawings, quilts, homemade treats, needle felted wētāpunga, a book of their giftee’s photography, cross-stitch projects 1/2
Beanies, gloves, scarves, paintings, drawings, quilts, homemade treats, needle felted wētāpunga, a book of their giftee’s photography, cross-stitch projects 1/2
June 7, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Wow, as a not crafty person the makers always blow me away and this time has been incredible!
Beanies, gloves, scarves, paintings, drawings, quilts, homemade treats, needle felted wētāpunga, a book of their giftee’s photography, cross-stitch projects 1/2
Beanies, gloves, scarves, paintings, drawings, quilts, homemade treats, needle felted wētāpunga, a book of their giftee’s photography, cross-stitch projects 1/2
Sure, I got this. Wētāpunga!
October 29, 2023 at 3:41 AM
Sure, I got this. Wētāpunga!
Wētāpunga, New Zealand's heaviest insect, survived on a single island. After 11,000 zoo-bred releases, it now has new wild populations.
Zoos bred and released 11,000 wētāpunga, helping New Zealand’s heaviest insect bounce back from the brink
www.earth.com
October 7, 2026 at 4:18 AM
Wētāpunga, New Zealand's heaviest insect, survived on a single island. After 11,000 zoo-bred releases, it now has new wild populations.
One of my regular kid customers forgot their comfort toy for their vaccination.
I offered one from our collection at the library - and they chose the wētāpunga - because she is such a protective mother.
(The toy has to be a she, because of the ovipositor.)
I offered one from our collection at the library - and they chose the wētāpunga - because she is such a protective mother.
(The toy has to be a she, because of the ovipositor.)
July 15, 2025 at 8:09 PM
One of my regular kid customers forgot their comfort toy for their vaccination.
I offered one from our collection at the library - and they chose the wētāpunga - because she is such a protective mother.
(The toy has to be a she, because of the ovipositor.)
I offered one from our collection at the library - and they chose the wētāpunga - because she is such a protective mother.
(The toy has to be a she, because of the ovipositor.)
Those googly eyes look cute 🥰, but it would need some time to adapt to having it sit on my hand. It would just fit, with a leg span of 20 cm.
‘The future is bright’: breeding programme brings world’s heaviest insect back from the brink
Wētāpunga can weigh as much as a mouse and its numbers dwindled across New Zealand due to predators and habitat loss
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2026 at 6:51 AM
Those googly eyes look cute 🥰, but it would need some time to adapt to having it sit on my hand. It would just fit, with a leg span of 20 cm.
“so revered for its unconventional beauty its name means “god of ugly things” — bravo to the scientists bringing them back 🌏🧪
A gentle giant: the shy wētāpunga is adept at living in the shadows
New Zealand’s docile, solitary and elusive ‘god of ugly things’ does wonders for the forest-floor ecosystem
www.theguardian.com
October 5, 2026 at 7:25 AM
“so revered for its unconventional beauty its name means “god of ugly things” — bravo to the scientists bringing them back 🌏🧪