Frosty existence characterizes this bug's life
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
A heavy snowfall atop Mauna Kea appears to be a boon to the wekiu bug, which thrives where others freeze.
Bill Mull photo
Trapping studies seem to indicate that the bug's population rises during periods with lots of snow, and drops when it's dry and snow-free.
A natural antifreeze in the wekiu bug allows it to seek prey in the snow.
The wekiu, a ferocious predator a quarter-inch long, injects digestive enzymes into its prey and then sucks them dry.
It is able to do so because its prey — generally lowland insects that have been blown to the icy summit — are rendered motionless by the cold.
The wekiu has a kind of natural antifreeze in its tissues, and is able to keep moving and track down its chilled meals.
"They are kind of weird," said Greg Brenner, an insect expert whose firm, Pacific Analytics, is preparing a plan to ensure that expansion of the Keck telescope facilities on Mauna Kea don't harm the wekiu population.
The bugs are a unique part of Hawaiian insect life. They appear to have evolved from plant-sucking bugs from warmer, lower slopes of Mauna Kea — but became predators to survive in a terrain where plants don't grow.
For all their adaptations, the tiny wekiu appear to be oddly vulnerable on the mountain.
They live and crawl just below the surface and between the cinders of the lee sides of Mauna Kea summit cinder cones. There, they are somewhat protected from wind and sun.
