Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 7, 1 July 1989 — Naturally Hawaiian [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Naturally Hawaiian

By Fatrick Ching Artist/ Environmentalist

A joyful flutter

While hiking in the I Hawaiian wilderness one may be amazed at the many different hues of green that ean occur in any given direction of sight. When suddenly surrounded by a world of green, a spot of brilliant orange fluttering about is sure to catch the eye.

Brilliant lehua blossoms have their charm as do the spectacular native forest birds, but to see a Kamehameha butterfly dancing in the wind is a sight that is a unique joy. At a distance the Kamehameha butterfly may look like a Monarch butterfly or a Gulf Fritillary whieh were introduced into Hawai'i and are more eommon at lower elevations. A closer look will reveal the Kamehameha has a brownish-orange colored body, orange wings marbled with black and speckled with white dots on the upper tips. The wing span is about four inches. The Kamehameha butterfly (Vanessa tamehameha) is one of only two native butterflies in Hawai'i (the other being the smaller, greyish Black-

burn Butterfly, (Udara blackburni.) There are however, at least a thousand native moths. Butterflies, as well as moths, are insects that go through four basic stages of life; the egg stage, the larval or "caterpillar" stage, the pupa or "chrysalis" stage, and the winged adult stage. There is hardly a child around, or an adult for that matter, who hasn't experienced the miracle of transformation that a caterpillar goes through as it spins its chrysalis around itself, only to emerge from it days later as a seemingly totally different form of life. For me the occasion of a butterfly coming out of its chrysalis was eagerly anticipated and celebrated. The eggs and caterpillars of the Kamehameha butterfly ean be found most abundantly on the mamaki plant but also on the akolea and olona. The adults like to suck on the sweet sap of the koa tree and occasionally sip nectar from the ohi'a lehua blossom. Butterflies ean sometimes be seen landing on the wet ground, sucking up water and minerals from the moist earth. The Kamehameha butterfly, known to the Hawaiians as pulelehua, is indeed a vision of lightheartedness and joy, and is considered an 'aumakua to some Hawaiian families.