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Science 17 March 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5767, p. 1575
DOI: 10.1126/science.1123544
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Brevia

Seed Dispersal by Weta

Catherine Duthie, George Gibbs, K. C. Burns*

Weta are giant, flightless grasshoppers that are endemic to New Zealand. In the absence of native mammals, weta are thought to perform similar ecological functions. As such, they might be expected to be important seeds dispersers. However, insects are not known to consume fleshy fruits and to disperse seeds after gut passage. We conducted a series of observations and experiments to test whether weta form mutualistic partnerships with fleshy-fruited plants as seed dispersers, similar to small mammals elsewhere in the world. Results showed that weta are indeed effective seeds dispersers, providing an example of ecological convergence between unrelated organisms.

School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Post Office Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kevin.burns{at}vuw.ac.nz

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Evolution of New Zealand's terrestrial fauna: a review of molecular evidence.
J. Goldberg, S. A Trewick, and A. M Paterson (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 3319-3334
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)