by Nate Yuen | Mar 18, 2016
I was thrilled to get close-up shots of a cute little Scotorythra moth in Haleakalā Crater on the island of Maui. While backpacking through Haleakalā Crater, we were lucky when entomologist Steve Montgomery found a Scotorythra moth outside the Palikū Cabin where we...
by Nate Yuen | Feb 28, 2016
I was thrilled to stumble on Hawaiian yellow-faced bees — nalo meli maoli — on lehua flowers on Hawaiʻi Island. The native bees are small — less than a quarter inch long — and look more like black-brown wasps that have a yellow face. Honey...
by Nate Yuen | Oct 1, 2015
One of the amazing denizens in the Hawaiian forest is the carnivorous caterpillar Eupithecia. Eupithecia is a large genus of moths with over a thousand described species worldwide whose caterpillars feed on plant material. But when the moths found their way to...
by Nate Yuen | Jun 11, 2015
One of the rare flowers found only on Oʻahu is Cyanea crispa or Haha. Known as the Crimpled Rollandia, the plant grows up to 5 feet high with large broad leaves that form a crown at the top of the plant several feet in diameter. The plant was discovered by famous...
by Nate Yuen | May 20, 2015
One of the oddest native Hawaiian insects is the ʻakoko planthopper which has a distinctive nose almost as long as the bug itself. The tiny winged creature — Dictyophorodelphax swezeyi — is about 5 mm long — slightly larger than an ant. The insect...
by Nate Yuen | Apr 29, 2015
Among the rarest plants in the Hawaiian Islands is Cyanea truncata — Haha — which can be found in the Koʻolau Mountains of Oʻahu. Cyanea truncata grows 3-4 feet high and is found in dense native forests. The plant produces large broad leaves up to 18...
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