New Zealand's heaviest insect has been pulled back from the brink after 15 years of captive breeding, according to research highlighted by the Department of Conservation on October 2.

The wētāpunga, or Little Barrier giant wētā, was once reduced to a single shrinking population on one island in the Hauraki Gulf. Over 15 years, tens of thousands were bred at Butterfly Creek and Auckland Zoo, enabling 45 translocations of 11,000 wētā to 10 new wild sites.

The species' conservation status has improved from Threatened—Nationally Endangered in 2004 to Threatened—Nationally Increasing in 2022, according to a paper in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology.

Lead author Dr. Chris Green called it "one of the most comprehensive case studies of invertebrate conservation breeding, translocation and species recovery ever undertaken in Aotearoa New Zealand, perhaps the world."

The insect, an adult female about the size of a human hand, was once found across Northland and Auckland. Forest clearance and introduced predators wiped it out everywhere except Little Barrier Island, a predator-free reserve northeast of Auckland.

Reporting based on: newswire.co.nz, phys.org.