Posted on: Sunday, July 28, 2002

Summer bummer: Attack of the bugs

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ah, summer. Warm weather, days on the beach, and lots and lots of bugs.

Or at least it seems that way.

Insects thrive in prolonged wet weather when their numbers soar. When summer comes and habitats dry out, insects head for households and gardens seeking food, water and shelter, according to Bernarr Kumashiro, an entomologist with the state Agriculture Department.

It's just life in the tropics,says George Kitaguchi, another state entomologist, who is with the Department of Health.

Pest-control operators are reporting an increased demand for their general services, according to Tim Lyons, chief executive officer of the Hawaii Pest Control Association.

You can find different bugs in different areas.

Some attack crops, like watercress in Pearl City that was beset by the lygaeid bug.

"It usually feeds on weeds. But when the weeds dry up, we see it causing problems on crops where it was not a problem previously," Kumashiro said.

The fungus gnat thrives on leaves rotting on the ground after windy, wet weather. It's "all over the island, but the hot spot is 'Aina Haina," according to Kumashiro.

Wes Otani, regional service manager at Terminix, says wetter weather brings about rapid growth of foliage in the fields and around your house.

"If the foliage is thriving, it may attract aphids, and then you see an explosion of ants that eat the aphids," Otani said. "We get inquiries whenever we have big weather changes."

Kumashiro said another insect thriving in wet weather this year is the myllocerus weevil, which some have complained is attacking crops.

"On Maui, we've gotten a lot of calls in the last few months about a predacious beetle, gnathaphatus, that feeds on scavenger insects on the ground which are feeding on decaying vegetation," he said.

Residents may also be seeing "hundreds" of the sweet potato horn worm, he said. "If you come across that, you may think you have an insect invasion," Kumashiro said.

In Hawai'i, there is also the constant threat of an invasion of newcomer aliens, with about 20 species arriving every year, Kitaguchi said.

"They will survive the trip and thrive, because the climate is pretty good here and, since they come from another place, they have no natural predators here," he said.