Its big,sceary, can even bite and gave me nightmares up until now....

To explain my fare of them spinney, creepy, really big bad flying insects  commonly known as the the Huhu beetles, I need you to picture that moment in lord of the rings, Gandalf the grey is having a lonely holiday on top of one of that bad guys towers…. So as you do, he’s just sitting there, chilln, because he carnet exactly go anywhere and he’s bit down in the dumps because his mates going to chop all the trees down.

 Then, out of no were, a large native moth appears. It fly’s right up to him and he snatches it in his hand and holds it like it’s in a cage.

(If your stuck, goes a little bit like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGBwcfSIugE )

But now imagine….

A little help less up and coming ecologist with no fears being out in the paddock at night. There she was, vulnerable and unaware waiting on the quad bike with the lights on, waiting as her dad opens the gate and moves the electric fence….

Feeling in the moment as she sore what looked like a moth like bug fly up by the lights heading straight towards her. After watching lord of the rings countless times and feeling in the moment, she reached out and snatch’s it from the air…..

Little do you realise though it was not in fact a cute and cuddly soft moth, but instead a very annoyed Huhu beetle that was rudely interrupted mid flight by a nerdy blonde kid.  

And there it was! Clinging hard onto her little hand with its spiny legs and biting mouth parts ready to lash out as she tried to shake it off. It was of chores not having a bar of this rollercoaster she was putting it through and instead took off again in flight. But in the rush of things and still being slightly disorientated crashed straight into her neck. Instantly getting caught up in a mop of blonde hair and now deafened by a very girly scream.

Both of our nights were defiantly not getting better. In fact, I’m not sure about the bug, but that night stayed with me for quiet sometime.

So there you have it. I discovered early in life that night that I’m defiantly not a wizard. And even if so, I still defiantly don’t have any skills at picking my different insects in the pith dark… Or when identifying any as it is. So since this fateful night the Huhu beetle has always given me the creepiest hebigebys. They were everywhere growing up as a wee kid as we live surrounded in native forest. They always managed to find their way into my room at night if I ever left the light on too long, or all over the floor in the garage when dads working late.

So from here on I want to instead talk about the amazing life style of these wee cuddly beetles so we, mostly me, can learn to appreciate them.

And no, not just as food........................................................................................................

> YUM YUM, looks good.....................................................................................................Nah,dont go there. Honestly isnt that great (;

So from this the paper I chose to cover gave a good over view of many different general aspects of the New Zealand Native Huhu grub and beetle life stages, Prionoplus reticularis. It was conducted in the 60’s as our entire forests flora and fauna was first starting to be examined and observed more closely.

The huhu occurs throughout New Zealands main land’s but is not found in any of our small off shore islands.  Naturally before European settlement occurred, the huhu grub was associated with Podocarp and kauri forests, living in the dead decaying wood that was strewn across the forest floors. But as the introduction of Pinus radiate occurred, the grubs soon found these more appealing and they are now easily found in damp logs with a diameter greater than 7-10cm.

 

 

There adult life span in this time only lasts for about 2 weeks were the do not feed. At night they actively fly around the forests and are occasionally distracted by house hold lights. Daylight hours are spent hidden in debris or in bits of bark and if disturbed, will seldom fly to get away. The adult beetle is a nocturnal flyer through warmer and dryer parts of the year between spring and early autumn.  After daylight has passed and it’s now time to start moving around in the dark, they first must warm up. To do so involves walking first for a long period of time. After do so, only then will they think to start to stretch out there wings and fly away. The first flights are usually seldom good attempts and the either land only a few feet away or fall to the ground and overturn, with males doing the most flying. They then become successfully stronger between 15-30mins, this is usually around 10.30-11pm and the only start to decrease in flight around 4am.

(When thinking further on their flight behaviour, the way they take off so slowly and hide in ground burrows. They must be great little snacks for predators such as rats, hedgehogs and ferrits).  The report mentions its natural predator being the Morepork owl with introduced species being the magpie and also the hedgehog.  

The little sweet Huhu beetles it turns out aren’t just out to attack people, they also have their own combats for territory and have ways to fend off such attackers…of any kind. They haves tough mandibles that are able to grasp and hold onto firmly anything that is in close proximity. Battles with other males for territory or copulation rights may last for to as long as 40seconds. In this time it is common to find that an individual has been caused bodily harm, with the loss of palpi, tarsi and antennae frequently lost. Then, often the loser of the fight fly’s away to find a safer more friendly place.  After the copulation with various males, the female can also lay between 24-398 eggs. Not all these survive as their nests in old bits of wood are always disturbed by human activity.

So concluded the research into the fear full little beetle which has always daunted me…

I have learnt to accept were they are coming from as a species. They now days (or nights) not only have one big owl chasing them each night, but add on top of this a ground predator hedgehog and an auzy after a cheap and easy snack. Typical.  And as I’m growing more myself as a budding young entomonologist, I am really finding more and more that i appreciate all the little bugs that we share our daily life next to, even the spiny hairy and bad flight ones. Even back in the 60s they weren’t worried about these wee fullers. Guess we best toughen up our ways! And as my dad says when I still occasionally gauk at a bug “Oh geez, what’s wrong? It won’t eat much” and the classic, “I bet it’s more afraid of you than you are of it.” Wisely put.

But as we need to know, we are still in fact intruders in their own ecological world that they have evolved in and they have adapted to. This amazing accomplishment in its self shows we should defiantly have respect for these magnificent creatures no matter how big or spinney.

Hands down,

I will always be a bug lover!

 

Peace.

(Heres the link: http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_88/rsnz_88_04_008450.pdf. Enjoy!)