Guam Insects

UOG Horticulturalist, Dr. Jim McConnell reports that he has found a new weed on Guam, tentatively identified as Tinospora rumphii (Family Menispermaceae).  This is a vine which forms impenetrable thickets and it is also a host for the fruit piercing moth, Eudocima fullonia.  Dr. McConnell who suggests that eradication should be considered before the weed spreads.  As far as he knows there is currently only one small infestation on island.

For more info see: http://www.stuartxchange.org/Makabuhay.html.

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This banded woolly bear caterpillar, Pyrrharctia isabella, was found in a recently purchased Christmas tree by Philipp Hagen.  This species is common on the Mainland, but it has never been reported from Guam.  Its range includes southern Florida, so there is potential for it to establish on Guam.

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No Ka Oi brought these insects to me for identification.  They were collected from wooden furniture stored in a garage.

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I have written a couple of scripts which display Guam CRB Eradication Project data in space and time using Google Earth (GE).   When you click one of the following links, a *.kml file containing data extracted from the project database will be downloaded to your computer.  If you have the free GE client software installed on your computer, GE should automatically launch.  To animate the display through time, you will need to use the timeline control.

• View trap data. Red circles represent traps which caught one or more beetles during the time period being displayed; green circles represent empty traps; and white circles represent unvisited traps
• View observation data. Red circles represent places were grubs and/or pupae were found, indicating breeding sites.

Breeding sites (places where grubs and/or pupae found) during period indicated in the timeline control at the top of the display.

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News clip from KUAM.

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Collected by Paul Romias II, No Ka Oi Pest Control, Inc.
Found on surface of a desk in a new office.
Specimen AM20081123.001; Body Length: 2.8 mm; LAT/LON: 13.507953, 144.810503

Tentative identification based on comparison to digital images available on the world-wide-web:

flat bark beetle – Silvanus bidentatus (COLEOPTERA: SYLVANIDAE)
This species not been previously reported from Guam

Images:
Atlas of Beetles of Russia
BugGuide.net
invasive.org

References:
ITIS
EOL

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Insects are being wired to be used as miniature flying machines and spies.

http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~maharbiz/insects.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726461.800-the-cyborg-animal-spies-hatching-in-the-lab.html

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Scarab beetle collected/photographed by Jim McConnell on 11 November 2008.

Based on a digital image, Bruce Gill comments “It is a species of Onthophagus.  It’s a well developed male and looks like it might be an Australian or SE Asian species.  I’d need to see the specimen, as there are 2,000 species worldwide.”

According to my checklist of Micronesian insects, Onthophagus armatus Blanchard occurs on Guam, so that is a possibility.

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