A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Retired from four careers and happily pursuing number five (grandfather). Enjoy learning from others and sharing the things I see.
Mililani, Hawaii
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Indeed. How many times does one bird need to be banded? (That is a rhetorical question.)
Sargon - Thanks for the ID.
Looks like a katydid. There are many species.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tettigonii...
Thanks for the ID suggestion, chickenparmesan24. Unfortunately, I don't believe it is correct. Although Copula sivickisi is found in Hawaii, its diameter, per Wikipedia, is much smaller (<10 mm) than that of this spotting (>50 mm). Additionally, there is a noticeable difference in the appearance of the tentacles of Copula sivickisi and the appearance of the micro-filament tentacles of this spotting.
Machi, I think you've made the ID. I compared my images with images of Megachile lanata online. Though this species has been observed in Hawaii, I was put off initially because most online images show white hairs between the abdominal segments that I thought were lacking in my images. In closer inspection, my images do have some of those white hairs. I'll agree to your ID until a better candidate appears. Thanks.
Thanks for the suggestions Machi. I can't find any pictures online of leafcutter bees that resemble the insect in this spotting. I found something close in appearance, Andrena nitida, a mining bee, but it has not been reported in Hawaii as far as I can determine. I think this insect must remain unidentified for now.
Machi: Thanks for the ID. I could find very few artichoke images online that were exactly like those in this spotting, but I found enough similarities to convince me that you got it right. I believe I probably imaged this individual just before its purple flowers emerged from the seed head.
jdc14515 - Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that this spotting is a mahogany tree seed, however, in addition to Swietenia sp. tree, it could as well be from a Toona sp. tree, one of the Asian mahogany species. Individuals of both genera are present in Hawaii. I've edited the spotting to reflect this update.
Brian 38: Thanks--I agree, they could be. They closely resemble mayfly exoskeleton images I found online.
