Behavioural differences in predator aware and predator naïve Wellington tree wētā, Hemideina crassidens

Insects have evolved a wide range of behavioural traits to avoid predation, with anti-predator behaviours emerging as important adaptive responses to the specific strategies employed by predators. These responses may become ineffective, however, when a species is introduced to a novel predator type. When individuals cannot recognise an introduced predator for instance, they may respond in ways that mean they fail to avoid, escape, or neutralize a predator encounter. New Zealand's endemic insect fauna evolved in the absence of terrestrial mammalian predators for millions of years, resulting in the evolution of unique fauna like the large, flightless Orthopteran, the wētā. Here we investigate how experience with introduced mammalian predators might influence anti-predator behaviours by comparing behaviours in a group of Wellington tree wētā (Hemideina crassidens) living in an ecosanctuary, Zealandia, protected from non-native mammalian predators, and a group living in adjacent sites without mammalian predator control. We used behavioural phenotyping assays with both groups to examine rates of activity and defensive aggression shortly after capture, and again after a period of acclimation. We found that wētā living in protected areas were more active shortly after capture than wētā in non-protected habitats where mammalian predators were present. Male wētā living in non-protected areas tended to be less aggressive than any other group. These results suggest that lifetime experience with differing predator arrays may influence the expression of antipredator behaviour in tree wētā. Disentangling innate and experiential drivers of these behavioural responses further will have important implications for insect populations in rapidly changing environments.