Hemideina ricta The thorax contains the front, middle and hind legs of the weta, each leg is made up of six segments; the coxa, the trochanter, the femur, the tibia, the tarsus and the pretarsus. The ear of the weta can be found at the top of the tibia near the knee joint of the front legs. The tibia of the hind legs are covered in spines, that can be rubbed against the stridulatory ridges on the side of the body to produce a sound, these can also be used as a defence mechanism against predators. Banks Peninsula tree weta can be
Stifle joint the joint into two functional units—the 'femoromeniscal joint' for flexion/extension movements and the 'meniscotibial joint' for rotation—a function analogous to that of the disc dividing the temporomandibular (jaw) joint. The menisci also contain nerve endings which are used to assist in proprioreception. The menisci are attached via a variety of ligaments: two meniscotibial ligaments for each meniscus, the meniscofemoral from the lateral meniscus to the femur, the meniscocollateral from the medial meniscus to the medial collateral ligament, and the transverse ligament (or intermeniscal) which runs between the two menisci. There are between one and four sesamoid bones associated with the