By Ruth Doherty, Dec 1, 2011

Filed under: Travel News

World's heaviest insect found by explorer in New ZealandSolent

An American explorer has found the biggest insect on record in New Zealand.

The Weta Bug has a wingspan of seven inches and weighs the same as three mice.

Former park ranger Mark Moffett, 55, from Colorado, found the bug on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island after searching for it for two nights.

Mark told The Sun: 'We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.

'The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found.

'She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away.

'She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.

'After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her.'

According to the Daily Mail, the giant weta is only found on Little Barrier Island, but there are 70 other types of smaller weta found across the rest of New Zealand.

Runs away screaming like a big girl!!