caterpillars – Hawaii Agriculture

March 11, 2012 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

A bugged life: Warm winter could mean more insects

Awakened from hibernation underground, in rotting wood and the cracks of your house, bugs are on the rise. Ants, termites, mosquitoes, ladybugs and ticks are up early and looking for breakfast.

Orkin, the pest control company, recently said its agents nationwide are reporting a 30 percent increase in calls to treat ant infestations compared with this time last year. Termite swarms do not normally show up until the end of March, but Orkin received 85 termite-control calls in February.

An Orkin branch in Montgomery County, which serves the District, has already responded to mosquito sightings this year. And the National Pest Management Association, based in Fairfax, issued an early warning of ticks, possibly carrying Lyme disease, lurking in back yards.

County agricultural extension agents across the country are sending out bug alerts to farmers.

“These things are coldblooded,” said Mike Raupp, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland. “Whenever we have a warm winter, they’re going to be out earlier. How do you stop them? You pray for cold weather.”

A mild winter is not great for all bugs, including some highly beneficial insects. Some were up and about when they should have been idle and hibernating, burning less energy, experts say. When this happens, they gobble the food they stored for the winter and emerge into a world where food is scarce. Many starve.

June 30, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Meet Treebot, the tree-climbing forest sentinel

HONG KONG – INSPIRED by tiny caterpillars, Treebot may be China’s new answer to forest preservation.

The slinky robot grips trees with spidery legs to climb and is equipped with a camera to spot any dangers to forests high amidst the leaves. Its segmented body allows it to negotiate complex branches and make turns.

Xu Yangsheng, a professor at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, said nature gave him the idea for his creation. ‘I used to basically observe how inchworms actually walk on the trees and I like this idea very much,’ he said.

‘I thought we should develop a robot monitoring the situation in the forest, especially now there are so many fires, so many environmental disasters happening in the forest areas.’ Treebot’s camera transmits images in real time and it can support a solar cell, so potentially there would be no need to halt its work to recharge. And while it weighs in at only 600g it can carry three times its weight.

‘It can climb different kids of trees: smooth surface, rough surface, big or small and different directions. Also, it can automatically cling to branches so its mobility is good,’ Dr Xu said.

The robot still needs some refining – the camera doesn’t work well in low light and it tends to slip when trees are wet – but Dr Xu says the potential is obvious and he hopes it will soon be crawling its way into trees around the world. — REUTERS

Meet Treebot, the tree-climbing forest sentinel

March 23, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Amphibious caterpillars discovered in Hawaii – LA Times

Scientists aren’t sure how the 12 species spend weeks underwater without breaking the surface. They don’t have gills and they don’t hold their breath.

Moths of the Hawaiian genus Hyposmocoma are an oddball crowd: One of the species’ caterpillars attacks and eats tree snails. Now researchers have described at least a dozen different species that live underwater for several weeks at a time.

"I couldn’t believe it," said study coauthor Daniel Rubinoff, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Hawaii at Honolulu, of the first time he spotted a submerged caterpillar. "I assumed initially they were terrestrial caterpillars . . . how were they holding their breath?"

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August 28, 2009 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Hawaii growers urged to clean up exports-The Honolulu Advertiser

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai’i’s $125 million agricultural export industry could be threatened by hitchhiking insects and other pests found on fresh flower, foliage and fruit shipments arriving in California.

Budget cuts have left California with fewer inspectors and made that state more prone to slap sanctions on importers when pests are discovered. Hawai’i may also lose inspectors if the state lays off workers in November as planned to balance its budget.

Five key agricultural officials sent a warning letter this month to hundreds of Hawai’i growers and shippers who sell flowers, foliage, herbs, vegetables, potted nursery products and fruit, alerting them to the potential risk of not cleaning up their shipments.

"Anyone that currently ships to California can be the ‘last straw’ that triggers the decision by California to impose severe restrictions on the movement of all products from Hawai’i into the California market," the letter states.

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August 9, 2009 General Ag News and Notes, Invasive Species Post a Comment

Layoffs could leave island vulnerable to alien species – Mauinews.com

Should the layoffs go forward in November as planned by Gov. Linda Lingle, not all Maui-based inspectors will disappear, according to Carol Okada, manager of the Plant Quarantine Bureau in the state Department of Agriculture.

There are inspectors in 10 positions covered by special funds who will not be affected, including six funded by the state Department of Transportation. But the six positions paid out of the state’s general fund are on the budget-cutting hit list.

Anna Mae Shishido, Maui County supervisor of the Maui Plant Quarantine Branch, wrote a letter expressing her concern about the impact of the layoffs to two Maui lawmakers – state Sen. J. Kalani English and Rep. Joe Souki.

She said the Transportation Department’s special fund specifies that the six inspectors it pays for would work at the Kahului Airport – which means they wouldn’t do maritime inspections.

As a result, Matson and other containers carrying produce, animal feed and other agricultural material would need to go to Honolulu first for inspection, Shishido said. Diverting that cargo to Oahu would mean extra handling of Maui-bound containers, adding delays and costs for consumers.

The layoffs would also mean that more than two dozen certified nurseries on Maui would no longer be able to self-certify their plant shipments to other states because state inspectors would not be available to conduct semi-annual nursery re-certification inspections, she said.

Shishido said she was alarmed about the potential for infestations of alien species without maritime inspections on Maui.

"We anticipate increased infestations of stinging nettle caterpillars and coqui frogs on Maui and new infestations of little fire ants and the varroa mite, which have not been found here so far," she said. "The safeguards we have worked so hard to put in place will be drastically decreased or completely gone. Maui will be exposed."

Layoffs could leave island vulnerable to alien species – Mauinews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, Visitor’s Information – The Maui News

June 8, 2007 General Ag News and Notes, Invasive Species Post a Comment

Alien caterpillars found on Oahu

HONOLULU, June 8 (UPI) — An invasive caterpillar with a nasty sting has turned up on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

The stinging nettle caterpillar first entered Hawaii through Hilo via an illegal shipment of seedlings from Taiwan in 2001, KITV-TV, Honolulu, reported.

The problem was brought under control around Hilo, but now the pest has jumped to Oahu, where it was discovered last week in a commercial nursery.

“If you rub against the caterpillar, it has a very strong burn (which) can burn for a few hours,” said Neil Rheimer of the state Department of Agriculture.

The state is setting up traps at the nursery to attract the moths that lay eggs and spread the problem. The caterpillars were discovered on raphis palm trees after workers complained about being stung last week.

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