Friday 9 July 2010

Fauna Hawaiiensis

I've always been surprised how hard it's been to find information on the beetles of Hawaii. Due to it being a state of the USA and the fascination for many other aspects of the fauna and flora of the islands I would've thought that it would be very easy to find out pretty much anything about the beetles of the area. This expectation for the most part has not been met.

Lately though, I've been having more luck. The other day I found the Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, and today I found the website of Karl Magnacca. He's working on the Drosophila of Hawaii which form a very famous radiation with approximately 600 species found in Hawaii. A big task. He's also taken a number of photos of Hawaiian beetles, and has put online the masterpiece of early Hawaiian biological study: Fauna Hawaiiensis. This ambitious project details the entirety of the animals from Hawaii at that time. Vertebrates, insects, worms, springtails, molluscs: it's all here.

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