Diario de deptula

USA, Hawaii, Honolulu Country, Mililani, 95-1096 Auina St., Elev: 880 ft., 5 May 2020, Coll: C. Deptula
Method: Active Observation.
Time: 4:00-5:30 PM.
Today I decided to hang out outside and just observe some organisms around my backyard without trying to disturb them with iNaturalist photos or collecting, as I am done with my collection (I’ll give the insects a brief respite before I go out and collect more)! It was a sunny (only a few clouds), very warm day at 86 degrees F. However, where I was looking was mostly shaded by the tall eucalyptus trees behind my yard. There were occasional, strong gusts of wind.
While walking around outside, I noticed a large number of flies congregating around a dead gecko (that my dog probably killed and left to rot). The smell told me why there were so many flies as it smelled very strongly of death and decay. The gecko was at the base of a bottle palm and was surrounded by various types of ferns. I saw something similar a week or two back with another dead gecko, but there was more fly diversity today. I saw numerous Calliphora flies, around 10-15 which would hang out on vegetation around the gecko and occasionally jump onto the dead carcass. There were also the usual houseflies (Muscidae), around 5, through these were smaller and harder to count, and also a few green colored blow flies (Calliphoridae). Included in this group was numerous small gnats and minute flies that I would occasionally see. However, what surprised me the most was a large flesh fly (Sarcophagidae), which proved to be very elusive to spot. I saw it land on the rock wall near the gecko, but not on the gecko itself. This could be because of the other flies, but also, I may have disturbed it by being there. It had large red eyes, hairy legs, and grey and black alternating longitudinal stripes along its thorax. It also had large hoof-like feet. This fly was very noticeable as it was .5 inches to .75 inches long —easily one of the largest flies I’ve ever seen behind the tachinid I found at Blodgett forest. Because of this, I was disappointed I didn’t have my net! I was getting grossed out by the smell though, so I tried to move away. Doing so caused most of the flies to scatter, especially the Calliphora flies, which I’ve observed previously.

Poking around some of the dead fern leaves in my yard, I was able to find some interesting things, though no new insects (I haven’t been able to find many insect decomposers in the leaf litter since coming to Hawaii, I’ve mostly seen isopods). The only insect I was able to find besides some Yellow Crazy Ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) crawling on the soil’s surface, were numerous small Surinam roach nymphs. I remembered these well growing up as they’d always crawl up your legs at public parks, or while you were playing at soccer practice. I don’t quite remember so many being at my house though! These are cool since they can also reproduce parthenogenically. The most interesting thing I was able to find was a giant red centipede (most likely Scolopendra subspinipes). This moved relatively slowly so I was able to run inside to get my camera and grab a photo of it, unlike the flesh fly. The reason I did so was because of how remarkable the size of the centipede was, it was easily 8-9 inches long. So, although it was not an insect, this made observing very interesting. It also got me wondering what this centipede eats—probably a lot of isopods and roaches, but maybe these introduced centipedes have impacted a lot of ground dwelling insects as well? I do not know the ecological impact of these invasive centipedes, but to maintain their large size I’m sure requires a large appetite.

Species list:
10-15 Calliphora flies (Blue-green color)
Numerous small, unidentified gnats
1 large Sarcophagidae
5 Muscid house flies
3 green Calliphorids
1 Scolopendra subspinipes
Numerous Anoplolepis gracilipes
Numerous Pycnoscelus surinamensis

Species Account:
It was interesting to see how the Calliphora flies would react to movement. I mentioned in a previous observation how they sound like bees, but these flies are much stronger and more agile flyers than bees, and their flight pattern is rather erratic, involving flying in circles before landing. Would this be to perhaps gain more depth perception of their surroundings? I’ve heard that wasps are known to hover and fly back and forth in order to paint a better picture of its surroundings. Given that the Calliphora flies don’t have much separation between their compound eyes, I can see that a behavioral adaptation to overcome this physiological drawback would make sense evolutionarily! Unlike many other insects, these flies also have red eyes, which is interesting to see. They also lack pseudo pupils which indicates to me that the flies are not absorbing all the visible wavelengths of light for humans. For example, my mantis has black pseudopupils and green eyes—the green may just be due to pigment, but the pseudopupil is clearly due to ommatidia absorbing light. Are the flies rejecting all red light, and if so, why? Also, why is it that these flies don’t seem to be absorbing visible light, or at least aren’t showing it with pseudopupils? These flies are quite big, so it was easy for me to see these details. Based on their quick reflexes, whatever the evolutionary logic behind their current anatomy, it’s apparent their eyes are serving their function! I tried to agitate the flies more to see how they would fly, but I mostly just scared them all off. When they did try to come back, I noticed that while the house flies would dive head first into the dead gecko, the Calliphora flies would mostly all ease back towards the carcass by perching on vegetation around it and flying to closer and closer perches before also landing on the gecko. At any given time, most of the Calliphora would be perched, not actively eating/laying eggs on the dead creature. These flies are certainly interesting and entertaining insects, though they are also quite frightening because of their speed and the loud noise they make while flying (also they were all just landing on a dead lizard, and were getting close to my face—yuk)!

USA, Hawaii, Honolulu Country, Mililani, 95-1096 Auina St., Elev: 880 ft., 24 April 2020, Coll: C. Deptula
Method: Hand collecting/Picture taking with iPhone.
Time: 2:47 PM – 4:30 PM.
The weather was hot (~80 degrees F) and sunny today. It was quite windy, however. Today, I decided to go on an ant hunt, as I do not have many observations. The only ants I had a photo of, at least in Hawaii, was my yellow crazy ant observation. Though, through my efforts, I was able to document a number of other creatures. I’ll start with the non-ants. I was first able to find a very cute, very minute, fly! It is blue-green in color with red eyes and made very rapid, jerky movements on the lime tree it was on. I found this type of fly on a number of other trees as well. The hind legs seemed to be larger than the front two pairs. I’m not too sure what that fly is, but I’m curious as it is a neat specimen and they seem to be everywhere on plant leaves here. Following ants on a palm tree, I was able to come across a well camouflaged bark louse. The body plan makes it look like it could be some sort of fly, however the enlarged clypeus tells me otherwise, though be wrong. Observing some yellow crazy ants, I was able to find a colony of scale insects and aphids. The scales seem to be normal coccidae. This was found on a gardenia bush. Back to my lime tree, I was able to spot what looks like a butterfly egg (Chinese Yellow Swallowtail?), but there was a very small wasp that seemed to be using its ovipositor on it. It was very small, and the photo shows its minute size relative to the already small egg! Lastly, near the egg and wasp, I was able to observe a neuropteran larvae (most likely the same one I observed earlier in the week) eating a group of aphids! Glad to see my lime tree getting taken care of naturally.
For ants, I was able to successfully find a number of different species! These finds were all interesting as they are almost all completely different ants than those I remember while growing up. When I was in elementary school it was the big-headed ant that dominated most of the space around my house, but now it’s either a stout black ant (possibly Dolichoderinae) or a long-legged crazy ant species (Paratrechina longicornis). No sign of the big-headed ants. I was able to find the former black ant on my bird’s cage eating her fruit (pesky creatures), and the latter crazy ants on my lime tree. This is interesting as I know just a year ago the yellow crazy ants were dominant on the lime tree. While I was looking at yellow crazy ants on the rock wall in my yard, I was able to find a small, brown rover ants (Genus Brachymyrmex). I remember these well when I was little. Just near the wall, I was looking at the bottle palms in my yard and noticed small pale ants with dark heads climbing rapidly up the tree and after some googling realized they were most likely ghost ants (Tapinoma melanocephalum). Later that day, on the same palm I noticed very, very minute little red ants running up and down the tree. I mistook them for little red fire ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) as my neighborhood, including my back yard, was the epicenter of the first established location of little red fire ants on-island. They seem to have died off with pesticide baits over time, set by the HDLNR. However, I was unsure so I put out peanut butter to see if the ants would eat it. Seeing as they did not, I quickly realized they were not little red fire ants. According to the iNat community, they’re Restless ants (Genus Plagiolepis). Knowing what types of ants were in my yard previously, and where they were located, but aren’t any more is interesting. It seems that the inter-species politics and territories between the different ants in just my backyard are very fluid, and I’ll try to keep tabs on them moving forward.
Species list:
Dolichoderinae ant
1 unknown dipteran
Numerous Formicidae (Genus Plagiolepis, Tapinoma melanocephalum, Genus Brachymyrmex, Paratrechina longicornis, Dolichoderinae)
1 Neuropteran larvae
1 unknown barklouse
1 unknown hymenopteran
Coccidae
Aphididae
Species Account:
While looking at the aphids I found, I saw that periodically, the cluster of aphids would all simultaneously wiggle their abdomens in the air, which was quite strange. I’m not sure whether the weather had anything to do with this behavior (as it was fairly windy), but it seemed quite strange to me—like it would attract more attention than if the aphids would stay still. At the same time, it seems like the fact that all the aphids would wiggle at the same time may mean that drawing attention is the goal—like fish schooling together in a synchronized ball. To an insect with poor sight it could look like a larger, mobile insect that they would be dissuaded from eating. I know for a fact that my mantis would not be impressed, and would probably find the little aphids to be more appetizing even.

USA, Hawaii, Honolulu Country, Mililani, 95-1096 Auina St., Elev: 880 ft., 21-22 April 2020, Coll: C. Deptula
Method: Vinegar Trap (White vinegar), Netting, and Hand Collecting
Time: 11AM 4/21 - 5PM 4/22

This week I decided to set up a vinegar trap for fruit flies and also poke around my yard a bit this week since I finished most of my writing assignments for my other courses (yay). The weather was cloudy on the 21st, and very hot (80+ degrees F) and sunny on the 22nd with breezy weather. For the trap, I unfortunately did not have any apple cider vinegar per the online recommendation so I substituted it out with white vinegar. The bottom of the trap was an old medium plastic mayo jar and I used a rolled up and stapled piece of paper as the funnel above the trap. Unfortunately, the trap did not catch anything. At one point I did see two small fruit flies (Drosophila x), however they seemed to be so small that they escaped, no doubt from the sides of the cone as it has been decently breezy (the cone wiggles a bit in the wind). I’ll try again with old fruit in the jar I think.

While this was going on, I tried going outside and looking for some interesting insects. I seem to have reached a plateau for how many interesting things I can actually find now—most of my sweep netting and visual insect hunting has only resulted in the same few species. This is most likely a sign to look elsewhere, and I think I shall before the class is over. What is interesting is that I’ve been finding most of the cool insects by accident or randomly when I’m not actively looking for them. For instance, I caught a leafhopper assassin bug (Zelus renardii) when I saw it clinging to my window screen one morning. Another time I found a neat larvae (probably a neuropteran) on my lime tree when I was trying to peel off all the aphids attacking the tree’s newly formed leaves. Unfortunately, my area doesn’t seem to be well endowed with many heteropteran families… I’d like to try and look for those more on island next week. There are many flies where I am, and I was able to catch a mosquito that was attempting to suck my blood (and transmit some disease, no doubt) as well as some large Chrysomya x flies that were buzzing around a dead gecko using my net. The latter fly makes quite loud buzzing noises while flying that sounds very similar to flying bees!

Species list:
1 Zelus renardii
2 unknown dipterans (most likely Drosophilids)
1 Chrysomya x
1 Neuropteran larvae

Species Account:
The Z. renardii specimen I caught is quite interesting. I have kept it alive to observe the creature and I’m curious as to how it hunts, as it is a predatory assassin bug. Unlike my mantis and toad bug, which are also predatory, this insect lacks raptorial forelimbs that the others have. How does it capture its prey then? Does it just stab the insect with its rostrum? The way it moves is my making very slow and very smooth body movements when it’s walking, adjusting its antennae or repositioning its body. I have yet to see it eat anything though I believe it killed a fly I few into its container previously as the fly was dead within a few hours. This hunting behavior is quite interesting as the numerous leafhoppers near my house are all very fast and capable of flight—how is it that this insect that lacks quick reflexes and hunting techniques, let alone suitable hunting arms, can effectively catch prey? I’ll have to make sure it doesn’t bite me in the meantime.

USA, Hawaii, Honolulu Country, Mililani, 95-1096 Auina St., Elev: 880 ft., 11 April 2020, Coll: C. Deptula
Method: Pan Trap (White and Green)
Time: 2PM-5PM
I did not have too much time this week so I repeated the pan trapping exercise, but this time I changed the location and used another colored pan. The temperature was 80 degrees F, there was no wind, and it was a very sunny day. Along with the different colored pan, I altered the location to be on top of the wall bordering my backyard and the ravine behind my house. I left out the two pan traps for a shorter time, as I did not have enough time to check on it often or throughout the midday and later afternoon, however I was able to take a peek at 4PM and noticed a huge number of insects inside of the green pan trap, mostly very small flies from only a couple discernible species. The white pan, however, did not contain as many insects! So clearly there is something about the green pan that is much more attractive to the flies than the white pan, as I used the same type of soapy water and they were next to each other. Whether this is due to the color, or the depth of the pan (the white pan is much deeper so there is more room between the opening of the pan and the water level), I’m not sure. In the White pan there were a number of small gnats and even a moth, but most of the representative pinned specimen I prepared did not dry well and ended up collapsing in on themselves. I was able to get one Muscidae fly out of the white pen, however. The small gnats and flies from the green pan had the same problem, though I was able to salvage a few larger flies and non-fly specimens. This included a medium-sized fly with fruit-fly coloring (red eyes, fleshy colored body), a medium fly with a large, dark lateral strip across its thorax and white colored body, an interesting and very, very small Ptilidae beetle, and some sort of tiny Hymenopteran.

Overall the trapping was very good, however I was disappointed that I was only able to recover a small number of insects. I did initially cast aside a large number of insects as I either caught them previously, or I had chosen a representative for that species (if I couldn’t distinguish that it was unique). I’ve attached a photo of the pans to some of the insect specimen on iNaturalist to show just how many small flies and insects I caught, despite my small number of entries. I have a feeling that they are not drying properly since I don’t have any ethanol to help dry them out quickly.

Species list:
2 Muscidae
2 unknown dipterans (different types)
1 Lepidopteran (did not preserve well)
1 Ptilidae
1 Hemipteran
Numerous smaller dipterans that either were discarded or did not preserve well

Species Account:
Because I am trapping once again, this is not a behavior per se, but it’s something I’m noticing with some of the small insects I trap. I’m noticing that the smaller beetles that fly into my pan traps have their wings extended when I find them in the trap, making it very easy to point them out. As such, I can see how their wings look like and was able to pick out the feathery quality of the Ptilidae. However, I also noticed that some of these small beetles and flies seemed to be swelling up around their sclerites causing them to look stretched out and distended, which I also feel may be contributing to their collapsing after they are removed from the water and dried. I was thinking whether the extended wings from the beetles are due to landing in the water with them already extended, or due to the expansion as a result of osmosis.

USA, Hawaii, Honolulu Country, Mililani, 95-1096 Auina St., Elev: 880 ft., 2 April 2020, Coll: C. Deptula
Method: Pan Trap, Hand collecting
Time: 11AM-4PM
I completed the pan trap assignment today and checked on it a number of times. The weather was full sun, making it about 82 degrees F and humid. I did not have any colored pans or dishes (other than green, which for obvious reasons I figured wouldn’t be the best trap), but I did have a white plastic dish that was quite large, measuring around 9 inches in diameter. I filled this halfway with soapy water (dawn dish soap and tap water), and placed it in an area in my backyard that included a number of blooming weeds, Bermuda grass, California grass, and sleeping grass. This area also bordered a rock wall and a gulch behind my house. This was positioned on the gulch-side of the wall, away from my house. I set the trap around 11AM, when the sun was really shining brightly, and there weren’t that many insects flying. However, slowly but surely, as I checked the trap throughout the day, the trap was catching more and more things, though not as many as I anticipated there would be. The first two things that fell into the trap around 12PM were two Sciapodinae flies. Around 2PM there were a number of small, black beetles which I identified with the help of Kip and iNat. One belongs to the family Nitidulidae, or the sap beetles, and the other two which are ambrosia beetles belonging to the True Weevil family Curculionidae. iNaturalist recommended the subtribe Xyleborina, however I am not familiar with these beetles other than their common “ambrosia beetle” name, as I’ve seen these in amber before. I did not know they belonged to Weevils. By 3PM there were a number of grass seeds that fell into the trap, so I imagine the wind picked up. At 4PM I took the trap into my house and inspected it closer, finding some very, very minute insects like the true bug belonging to Anthocoridae. This ID is just a guess given the extremely minute size of the bug. Another interesting specimen I found that I did not initially see was a psyllid that was in copula with another and fell into my trap in the “end to end” position. Given that these were flying this would thus be the “in-flight services” position, which is quite interesting. While I knew they’re psyllids, especially given their prominent genal cones, I’ve been looking at literature on them and there are a number of families that I’ll have to look at. In fact, previously I found an Asian Citrus psyllid, however this belongs to the family Liviidae, not the ubiquitous Psyllidae that one would expect. I thus categorized them to the superfamily level. I will try to vary the areas I set the pan trap in, and perhaps put it out earlier to see if the kinds of insects I get really do change with the time of day or temperature.
While the pan trap was set up, I also ended up looking around my yard for around 15 minutes to see if anything was out there, sweeping tall grass near the pan trap with my net. I found a Herpetogramma moth. Trying to get a better look at it, I opened the net and it almost flew out. Not having any vials either, I had to grab it in my hand and bring it into my house to grab a vial. Once I had the moth stored safely in my freezer, I found that I netted a small katydid hopper as well, belonging to the genus Conocephalus. I already had the Tettigoniidae family, however, so I fed this hopper to my Giant Asian mantis, which relished in the meal.

Species list:
Anthocoridae
2 Psylloidea
2 Sciapodinae
Nitidulidae
Conocephalus sp.
Herpetogramma sp.
2 Xyleborina

Species Account:
Collecting the sap and ambrosia beetles in the pan trap was quite interesting. They both entered the pan trap later than the other specimens, around 2PM, however they sat in the trap submerged in soapy water for two hours. When I took them out and dried them, I immediately point mounted them, assuming they were dead. Upon observing the beetles two days later, glued to their points, they are both still alive and were trying to wriggle away! What’s interesting is neither of them seemed to try and fly away, only wiggling their legs and head to try to get free. While this is not behavior per se, the ability of these beetles to survive underwater for that long is remarkable, and I’m curious to know if it has something to do with their life histories or any morphological features.