Do alternative reproductive strategies in the Wellington tree weta represent different behavioural types?

In the Wellington tree weta, Hemideina crassidens, males can mature at the 8th, 9th or 10th instar, while females mature at the 10th instar only. A number of morphological attributes including male head and mandible size correlate with final instar number, and as these attributes represent a form of weaponry, they are often used in mate/site guarding and male–male competition.

Tenth instar males have larger head/mandible/body sizes and show a conventional (guarder) reproductive strategy, whereas smaller 8th instar males typically show an unconventional (sneaker) strategy. In contrast, 9th instar males are predicted to adopt a “jack-of-all-trades” strategy whereby they can fight or sneak depending context. Here, we tested whether alternative reproductive morphs exhibit strategy-specific differences in risk-taking associated with refuge emergence, activity and antipredator behaviour and further, whether these traits correlate to form a behavioural syndrome.