VNR: Bizarre ‘bone collector’ caterpillar discovered by UH scientists wears dead insects

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

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Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/Cq8

***VOSOT script below for consideration***

Scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa have found a new caterpillar species with unique and bizarre behaviors-it lives in spider webs and decorates its portable home with the body parts of the spider's prey. This remarkable discovery, reported in a new study in the journal Science, also reveals the species to be endangered.

The caterpillar, a member of the Hawaiian Fancy Case Caterpillar group also known as the genus Hyposmocoma, has been named the "bone collector" caterpillar due to its macabre habit of adding insect body parts into its silken, portable case. Researchers have observed these caterpillars measuring and attaching body parts such as fly wings, weevil heads and earwig abdomens to their cases.

"The bone collector caterpillar is another example of how incredible and unpredictable evolution in Hawaiʻi can be," said Dan Rubinoff, an etomology professor at the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience. "Not only are they the only caterpillars in the world to decorate their homes with body parts but maybe more shocking, they make their living hanging around spider webs. This is something we never even imagined was possible. But in Hawaiʻi, here it is."

Rubinoff co-authored the new study with UH Mānoa scientists Michael San Jose and Camiel Doorenweerd.

Carnivorous caterpillar

The caterpillars are carnivorous and live with spiders in webs located in tree hollows, logs, or rock cavities. The predator opportunistically feeds on weakened or recently deceased insects within the web, even chewing through silken webbing to reach their meals.

However, the study also reveals a troubling reality: the newly discovered species is already endangered. After decades of searching, the caterpillar has only been found in a small 15-square-kilometer area of forest in the Waiʻanae mountain range on Oʻahu.

Ancient roots

The researcher team estimates that the evolutionary origin of the bone collector caterpillar lineage dates back at least six million years, significantly older than the current islands of Hawaiʻi. This suggests that the species may have once been more widespread across the ancient and now sunken islands to the northwest of the main Hawaiian archipelago.

Scientists at UH Mānoa are calling for immediate conservation efforts to preserve the habitat of the bone collector caterpillar and prevent the loss of this remarkable species.

Link to video and sound (details below): https://go.hawaii.edu/Cq8

***VOSOT script below for consideration***

B-ROLL: (1:30)

:00-08 Video of "bone collector" caterpillar eating another caterpillar

:09-:20 UH researchers working in field

:21-:26 Waiʻanae mountains where caterpillar was discovered

:28-:32 UH researchers working in lab

:33-:37 Adult moth (what caterpillar transforms into)

:38-:49 More UH researchers

:50-1:29 Insect specimens

SOUNDBITES:

(:12) Dan Rubinoff/ Entomology professor, UH Mānoa

"When we first saw them we really didn't know what they were. Literally, we weren't sure if they were caterpillars because they look so different from everything else and again they're covered in bug bits from things that were just lying around and we've never seen anything like that."

(:12)

"I can safely say this is the last thing I would've expected was to find a caterpillar that's carnivorous and living with spiders and covering itself in body parts again-that is the definition of unimaginable to me."

(:13)

"If we let things like feral pigs and feral goats and strawberry guava take over that's all we're going to have left. Instead of having these bizarre and magical weird things that are only in Hawaiʻi. We're going to look like a lot of the rest of the world."

(:16)

"It's akin in the entomological world for us for finding a unicorn because it's something that just shouldn't be. Caterpillars are overwhelmingly herbivorous. That means they just eat plants. So to find one that isn't eating plants, that's eating meat is already enough of a weird situation."

VO SCRIPT

INTRO
They're calling it the "bone collector" caterpillar. UH Mānoa scientists have made a wild discovery - a new caterpillar species that lives in spider webs-and decorates its case with insect body parts.

VO:
Take a look-this is video of it feeding on another caterpillar. Unlike most caterpillars that munch on plants, this one is carnivorous, scavenging inside spider webs and using insect wings, legs and heads to armor its silk case. Researchers say they were shocked!

SOT ( Dan Rubinoff/ Entomology professor, UH Mānoa)
<"When we first saw them we really didn't know what they were. Literally, we weren't sure if they were caterpillars because they look so different from everything else and again they're covered in bug bits from things that were just lying around and we've never seen anything like that.">

VO

But scientists say the discovery comes with an urgent warning - the "bone collector" is already endangered, surviving only in a small patch of forest in the Waiʻanae mountains.

SOT (Dan Rubinoff/ Entomology professor, UH Mānoa)

<"If we let things like feral pigs and feral goats and strawberry guava take over that's all we're going to have left. Instead of having these bizarre and magical weird things that are only in Hawaiʻi. We're going to look like a lot of the rest of the world.">

VO

Scientists say urgent conservation efforts are needed to protect this remarkable piece of Hawaiʻi's ancient evolutionary history.