Taxonomic status of tree weta from Stephens Island, Mt Holdsworth and Mt Arthur, based on allozyme variation

Abstract

Eleven populations of the Wellington tree weta, Hemideina crassidens (Blanchard, 1851), were compared with tree weta collected from Stephens Island (H. crassicruris Salmon 1950) and from Mt Holdsworth and Mt Arthur (H. brevaculea Salmon 1950), using 26 allozyme loci. The level of genetic differentiation is consistent with that found between conspecific populations, supporting the trend in the scientific literature to relegate both H. brevaculea and H. crassicruris to synonomy with H. crassidens. On the basis of morphological data indicating differentiation of the Stephens Island population, we conclude that H. crassicruris should be considered a subspecies of H. crassidens but H. brevaculea a synonym. There is an undescribed cryptic species, defined from the level of genetic differentiation, in Hawke's Bay.