Hemideina maori
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
Hemideina maori, also known as the mountain stone wētā, is a wētā of the family Anostostomatidae. They are a large, flightless, nocturnal orthopteran endemic to New Zealand. Mountain stone wētā are long lived and are found on many central mountain ranges in New Zealand's South Island.
Hemideina maori was first described in 1891 by Swiss Entomologists Alphonse Pictet and Henri de Saussure. Unlike other Hemideina species H. maori occupy an alpine habitat. They are found at high elevation (above the tree line) of the South Island of New Zealand. They have been found above 1500 metres above sea level (m.a.s.l) with a lower limit of 1100m.a.s.l, from the Kaikōura Ranges south to the Rock and Pillar range in Otago. They use cavities under rock slabs ('tors') broken from schist outcrops as retreats during the day. Tors are separated by alpine meadows with no rocks and therefore are assumed to have no wētā, causing population fragmentation.
The mountain wētā do not move far during their lifetime, and are exposed to high winds and low temperatures all year round. Studies of mountain stone wētā frass have found that they eat many plant... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aoraki Mount Cook National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Stone Weta sighting in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, based on 48 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the most-seen of the 10 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and July
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Stone Weta in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on a given day, against about 10% in September, the lowest month.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mountain Stone Weta sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, in our data
Aoraki Mount Cook National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Mountain Stone Weta sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mountain Stone Weta is recorded against all the insects logged in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (48 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
