A big aloha to the largest, endemic true bug in the Hawaiian Islands, the Koa bug, a.k.a. Coleotichus blackburniae. Like all true bugs it has no chewing parts to its mouth - no cutting, or biting for this guy. Instead it has a proboscis, a straw-like appendage used for piercing and sucking the nutrients from the seeds of the Koa tree as well as 'A'ali’i. It's remarkable iridescence is characteristic of many of it's relatives in the jewel bug family. |
Koa bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis, in which there are three phases: eggs, nymphs, and adults. Eggs are greenish in color when first laid in a tight bunch. In a little over a week, the nymphs emerge, looking like miniature versions of the adult, though red and black in color and without wings. After several molts, they become adults. |
Once widespread throughout the MHI, the koa bug is now common only on parts of the Big Island. A parasitoid fly, Trichopoda pennipes was introduced into Hawaii in the early 1960's to control the southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula, but they found our guy to be just as suitable a host. The koa bug will truly earn the nickname "rainbow warrior" if it can bounce back from the effects of this adversary. |