Volume 45 - December 2013 : Hawaiian Entomological Society

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/30993

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The Importance of Insect Monitoring to Conservation Actions in Hawaii
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Medeiros, Matthew J.; Eiben, Jesse A.; Haines, William P.; Kaholoaa, Raina; King, Cynthia B.A.; Krushelnycky, Paul D.; Magnacca, Karl N.; Rubinoff, Daniel; Starr, Forest; Starr, Kim
Endemic insect species make up the overwhelming majority of Hawaii’s native fauna, and play many important ecological roles. Despite this, insects receive low levels of conservation funding, likely due to their small size, fluctuating popula- tion sizes, and lack of baseline data necessary to determine if they are threatened with extinction. To determine which insects are at risk, how insect populations fluctuate in natural areas, and which management actions are most beneficial to Hawaiian ecosystems, we propose that insects be monitored whenever possible. Insect monitoring should be broad, generating community-based metrics such as species richness, rather that focusing on individual species. Resultant data should be entered into a stable, central database. Rather than individual insect species being the explicit target of conservation, we emphasize that measures of insect diversity can provide an assessment of restoration efforts, and serve as a metric for prioritizing areas for conservation. We provide lists of additional recommenda- tions for land managers and research entomologists who wish to assist with insect conservation efforts.
Koa Looper Caterpillars (Scotorythra paludicola, Geometridae) Have Lower Fitness on Koa (Acacia koa, Fabaceae) True Leaves than on Phyllodes
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Barton, Kasey E.; Haines, William P.
Native plant-herbivore interactions on islands remain understudied due to the widely discussed idea that island plants have weaker defenses than their con- tinental relatives. In Hawaii, the native moth Scotorythra paludicola, a specialist on the native Acacia koa, can undergo outbreaks that defoliate tens of thousands of acres of native koa forest, sometimes leading to massive stand mortality. Such extreme herbivory events are expected to exert strong selection pressure for defense in A. koa. Because mature A. koa trees often re-flush juvenile true leaves after defoliation, we predict that true leaves are better defended against S. paludicola than phyllodes, consistent with the phenomenon of induced resistance. A no-choice bioassay was conducted in the laboratory to compare S. paludicola development on true leaves vs. phyllodes. Consistent with our predictions, caterpillars reared on true leaves had a significantly higher mortality rate and took longer to pupate than caterpillars reared on phyllodes. Additional sources of variation in S. paludicola development included sex, phyllode age (young vs. mature), and host tree identity. Further research is needed to determine the mechanistic traits underlying A. koa resistance to S. paludicola, and to test whether true leaf development does in fact contribute to a reduction in S. paludicola performance and population stability on previously defoliated trees.
Defoliation of the Invasive Tree Falcataria moluccana on Hawaii Island by the Native Koa Looper Moth (Geometridae: Scotorythra paludicola), and Evaluation of Five Fabaceous Trees as Larval Hostplants
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Haines, William P.; Barton, Kasey E.; Conant, Patrick
The koa looper (Geometridae: Scotorythra paludicola) is an endemic Hawaiian moth whose caterpillars feed on Acacia koa, and experience occasional outbreaks, producing vast defoliations of forests. During an extensive and ongoing outbreak of this species on the island of Hawaii, patchy defoliation of Falcataria moluccana (“albizia”) was observed in the vicinity of Akaka Falls State Park, relatively distant from the main defoliation of koa, raising questions about the host range of the koa looper. To identify suitable host plants in the laboratory, we of- fered the koa looper foliage from five fabaceous tree species (A. koa, A. confusa, F. moluccana, Prosopis pallida, and Leucaena leucocephala), and recorded feeding and performance on these diets. Among the five tree species, only A. koa and F. moluccana were accepted as food; caterpillars on the other three species all died by the fifth day of the trial. Survival of the koa looper to pupation and adulthood on F. moluccana did not differ significantly from that on A. koa phyllodes, indicating that this tree is a suitable host, though it does not appear to be widely utilized in the field. Both oviposition preference and larval requirements are likely important determinants of the realized diet breadth for the koa looper. Additionally, develop- ment times at 19°C on A. koa and F. moluccana were nearly twice as long as at 23°C, highlighting the importance of temperature for development of this insect.
Male Lures and the Detection of Bactrocera Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): Performance of Solid Dispensers with Separate Insecticidal Strips Relative to Standard Liquid Lures
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Shelly, Todd
Detection of pestiferous Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) relies largely on deployment of traps baited with male-specific attractants. Two species in particular, B. dorsalis (Hendel) and B. cucurbitae (Coquillett), pose seri- ous threats to US agriculture, and males of these species are attracted to methyl eugenol (ME) and cue lure (CL), respectively. At present, these lures are applied as liquids (with naled added as an insecticide) to cotton wicks placed inside Jackson traps, a procedure that entails considerable handling time and potential health risk owing to inadvertent contact with the chemicals. Recent studies have demonstrated that solid dispensers containing male lures and the toxicant DDVP (dichlorvos) capture as many or more B. dorsalis and B. cucurbitae males as the standard liquid formulation. Owing to registration requirements, deployment of solid dispensers requires the lure and the killing agent be presented in separate devices. The goal of this study was to compare capture of Bactrocera males between traps baited with the liquid formulation (lure and naled mixed) versus traps baited with solid lure-bearing plugs or wafers and separate DDVP strips (lure and DDVP separate). Field trapping was conducted in various areas of Oahu, Hawaii, using variable amounts of DDVP (0.09 – 0.295 g) in the traps with the solid dispensers. In gen- eral, for both B. cucurbitae and B. dorsalis, traps with wafers performed as well as traps with liquids regardless of lure age (fresh or aged 6 weeks), DDVP dose, test location, or lure presentation (ME and CL presented singly or combined). Traps with aged plugs also performed as well as aged liquids for both Bactrocera species under nearly all test conditions. However, in a large proportion of tests, fresh plugs captured significantly fewer males of both species than fresh liquids over the full range of DDVP doses tested. The implications of these findings for Bactrocera detection are discussed.
Host Plant Records for Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacini) in the Pacific Islands: 2. Infestation Statistics on Economic Hosts
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Leblanc, Luc; Vueti, Ema Tora; Allwood, Allan J.
Detailed host records are listed for 39 species of Bactrocera and 2 species of Dacus fruit flies, infesting 98 species of commercial and edible fruits in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories, based on sampling and incubating in laboratory almost 13,000 field collected samples, or over 380,000 fruits. For each host-fly-country association, quantitative data are presented on the weight and number of fruits collected, the proportion of infested samples, the number of adult flies emerged per kg of fruits and, whenever available, the percentage of individual fruits infested. All the published records of each fly-host-country association are cited and erroneous or dubious published records are rectified or commented. Laboratory forced infestation data are also cited and reviewed.
Detection/Monitoring of Bactrocera latifrons (Diptera: Tephritidae): Assessing the Potential of Prospective New Lures
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) McQuate, Grant T.; Jang, Eric B.; Siderhurst, Matthew
Bactrocera latifrons is a tephritid fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) which has a host list of 59 plant species from 14 plant families, with over 70% of the host plant species coming from the plant families Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae. Bactrocera latifrons is of primarily Asian distribution, but its range has expanded through introductions into Hawaii, Okinawa (Japan), Tanzania, and Kenya. The documented introductions into countries outside its native distribution show that this species poses a risk of introductions into other countries where it does not presently occur, particularly through the movement of infested fruit. As with other tephritid fruit fly species, establishment of B. latifrons can have significant economic consequences, including damage and loss of food production, as well as requirements for implementation of costly quarantine treatments to permit export of commodities susceptible to infestation by B. latifrons and inspection of susceptible imported commodities. Because of the economic importance of B. latifrons, reliable methods are needed to detect, monitor, and control this species. We conducted field trials with a wild B. latifrons population, supported by the invasive weed, turkeyberry, Solanum torvum (Solanaceae), to compare attractive- ness of prospective new lures with several attractants that have often been used for detection and/or monitoring of tephritid fruit flies. The tests reported here have again shown higher B. latifrons catch in traps baited with alpha-ionol + cade oil relative to traps baited with protein baits. Among the attractants to which both male and female B. latifrons are attracted, fly response is significantly better to a Solulys AST–based protein bait than to other attractants tested. Beyond this, there was no significant difference in catch among the (wet) torula yeast baited trap and four (dry) alternative attractants (ammonia, biolure, rainbow plug and cucumber volatile plug). This shows that these dry trap alternatives have a comparable ability to catch B. latifrons adults as a wet protein bait trap (though not comparable to a Solulys AST–based wet trap).
On the Locality of “Kaumuohona”
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Magnacca, Karl N.
Hylaeus (Nesoprosopis) mamo (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), a New Endemic Bee from Oahu, Hawaii
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Magnacca, Karl N.
Hylaeus mamo new species, a minute bee with extensive yellow mark- ings, is the most recent in a series of Oahu endemic bees discovered in the past 15 years. In addition, the male of Hylaeus makaha Magnacca, 2011 is described.
A Preliminary Survey of the Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) of Bangladesh
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Leblanc, Luc; Hossain, M. Aftab; Khan, Shakil Ahmed; San Jose, Michael; Rubinoff, Daniel
Thirteen species of Bactrocera and one species of Dacus were collected during field surveys in Bangladesh, including eight new country records, for a total of fifteen species confirmed to occur in the country. Color variation in Bangladesh B. dorsalis is similar to that observed in B. invadens in Africa and Sri Lanka.
Odonaspis saccharicaulis (Zehntner) (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Diaspididae): Erroneous Records and First Field Collections in Hawaii
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Matsunaga, Janis
In 2012, two separate collections of sugar cane–infesting diaspidids on the islands of Oahu and Maui were identified as Odonaspis saccharicaulis. A subsequent status check revealed that establishment of this particular species in Hawaii was questionable, prompting a further investigation of this and other records of Odonaspis species in Hawaii.
Protaetia orientalis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Attracted to Methyl Eugenol Fruit Fly Lure
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Leblanc, Luc; Graham, Steven; Pohlman, Kurt; Fujita, Brian
The attraction of Protaetia orientalis (Gory and Percheron), and prob- ably also P. fusca (Herbst), to the methyl eugenol fruit fly male lure is reported, based on two years of trapping data on Oahu (Hawaiian Islands).
From Eradication to Containment: Invasion of French Polynesia by Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and Releases of Two Natural Enemies: A 17-Year Case Study
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Leblanc, Luc; Vargas, Roger I.; Putoa, Rudolph
Four economic species of Bactrocera flies have sequentially invaded French Polynesia: B. kirki (Froggatt) in 1928, B. tryoni (Froggatt) in 1970, B. dorsalis (Hendel), detected on Tahiti in 1996, and B. xanthodes (Broun), detected on the Austral Islands in 1998. Following a failed attempt to eradicate B. dorsalis, documented in this paper, it became established and the dominant fruit fly, displac- ing B. kirki and B. tryoni. Two braconid parasitoids were introduced from Hawaii and established: Fopius arisanus (Sonan) (released in 2002) and Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead) (released in 2007). By 2009 mean parasitism for fruit flies infesting common guava (Psidium guajava), Tahitian chestnut (Inocarpus fagifer), and tropical almond (Terminalia catappa) fruits on Tahiti was 70%, and 95% of the emerged parasitoids were F. arisanus. Numbers of B. dorsalis trapped from methyl eugenol and bred from guava, Tahitian chestnut and tropical almond have been reduced by 87%, 89%, 88%, and 91–94%, respectively, from the 2002–03 peaks.
Release-Recapture of Sterile Male Mediterranean Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Southern California
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Andress, Earl; Walters, Ian; del Toro, Maribel; Shelly, Todd
A key determinant to the success of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) against the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), is an even spatial distribution of sterile males following their release. While numer- ous studies have measured medfly dispersal, these almost always involve ground releases, whereas large-scale SIT programs release sterile males from small aircraft. The objective of the present study was to describe dispersal of sterile C. capitata males following aerial release in an urban area of southern California included in an ongoing SIT program. At present, adjacent flight paths are spaced 268 m apart (six flight lanes per 1.61 km [1 mi]), but in the face of potential budget cuts, flights may be reduced, which could result in increased distances between adjacent flight paths. We undertook this study to assess whether flight reduction might jeopardize the SIT program’s ability to achieve adequate ground coverage by sterile males. Dispersal of sterile males was monitored following four release flights made along a single 96.6 km east-west path between June 2011 and Febru- ary 2012. Data were gathered using traps located along six transects established perpendicularly to the flight path as well as detection traps routinely monitored as part of the management program. Data showed that (i) most males were captured within 268 m of the release line, although some males traveled > 1 km, (ii) there was a higher number of captures north of the release line, (iii) most males were captured within 3 d of release, although, compared to other studies, a large propor- tion (15%) were captured > 7 d after release. We discuss the implications of these findings and conclude that four flight lanes per 1.61 km would allow adequate coverage in the southern California SIT program.
First Collection of Aedes japonicus (Theobald) (Diptera: Culicidae) on Oahu, Hawaii
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013-12) Yang, Pingjun; Hasty, Jeomhee M.
A single adult female of Aedes japonicus (Theobald) was collected in a gravid trap at the Honolulu International Airport, Oahu, HI, on October 31, 2012. This is the first detection of Ae. japonicus on Oahu, Hawaii.
Detection of Male Mediterranean Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae): Performance of Trimedlure Relative to Capilure and Enriched Ginger Root Oil
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013) Shelly, Todd
Females of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), oviposit in a large number of fruits and vegetables and pose an enormous threat to agriculture worldwide. As a result, areas free of C. capitata often operate trapping programs to detect incipient infestations. Detection efforts rely heavily on trimedlure (TML), a male-specific attractant. Despite its wide acceptance, TML is not a particularly powerful attractant, and alternatives are being investigated. Capilure® (CPL), which contains TML plus extenders to reduce production costs and volatility, and enriched ginger root oil (EGRO), which contains the male attractant α-copaene, have been compared with TML with varying results. The present study provides additional field data comparing the effectiveness of TML against CPL or EGRO as trap baits for wild C. ceratitis males in a Hawaiian cof- fee field. While traps baited with fresh TML or CPL generally captured similar numbers of male medflies, TML-baited traps generally captured significantly more male medflies than CPL-baited traps when the lures were aged 1, 3, 8, or 10 weeks. Likewise, traps baited with fresh TML or EGRO captured equal numbers of males, whereas significantly more males were captured in TML- than EGRO- baited when the lures were aged 3 or 6 weeks. Based on these results, neither CPL nor EGRO appears an adequate substitute for TML.
MINUTES FOR FY 2012
(Hawaiian Entomological Society, 2013) Matsunaga, Janis

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