Life at the top: the wekiu bug makes its home in one place oly: the summit of Mauna Kea

Author:

Napier, A. Kam

Title:

Life at the top: the wekiu bug makes its home in one place oly: the summit of Mauna Kea

Periodical:

Hana Hou: the Magazine of Hawaiian Airlines

Year:

2014

Volume:

17

Pages:

p. 65-70

Subject:

Wekiu bug Nysius wekiuicola

Summary:

The reporter followed Dr. Jesse Eiben, a UH Hilo entomologist, to Mauna Kea summit where wekiu bugs live. The wekiu's favorite environment on the summit is amid a layer of tephra six to ten inches deep and comprised of both gravel and cobblkes. The bug has become a scavenger that feasts on windborne insects that are blown up to the summit. It has jettisoned its wings in favor of long legs which keep a safe distance off the hot rock during the day and carry the bug into the comparatively warm voids of the tephra to avoid freezing. The bug was removed from the list of candidate species for protection in 2011. The population could double, theoretically, every fifteen days, said Dr. Eiben.

Label:

Insects - Wekiu

Date:

April/May 2014

Collection:

Periodicals