Pulelehua of Hawai'i: Butterflies and Skippers

Hawai'i is famous for its exotic and rugged natural beauty and pleasant weather. It is also infamous among students of biology as a site of rapid and extreme evolution, due to the young geologic age of the islands and their remote location. Moths are among the most diverse native insects in Hawai'i, but butterflies (pulelehua in the Hawaiian language) include few native species. In fact most of the butterflies are introduced species from elsewhere, or those with extremely large ranges (including Danaus plexippus, the North American Monarch). You can help scientists understand how native insect diversity in Hawai'i has changed over time by helping digitize the butterflies and skippers in the University of Hawai'i Insect Museum. Visit the Pulelehua Project website for more information about some Hawaiian butterflies.This expedition of 245 tasks is fully transcribed and validated. This data resource is harvested periodically into the main occurrence index.