{"id":229650,"date":"2026-02-18T14:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=229650"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:10:11","slug":"invasive-ramie-moth-kauai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/02\/18\/invasive-ramie-moth-kauai\/","title":{"rendered":"Invasive ramie moth detected on Kauaʻi for the 1st time"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"caterpillar\"
Mature ramie caterpillars are most often black in color with distinctive red spots, yellow markings on its sides, and long white hairs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A live ramie moth (Arcte coerula<\/em>) caterpillar was discovered on Kauaʻi<\/span> last month, marking the first detection of this invasive species on the Garden Isle.<\/p>\n

The discovery from a community report to the Kauaʻi<\/span> Invasive Species Committee has sparked a swift response from the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa,<\/span> the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.<\/p>\n

\"moth\"
Adult ramie moths are nocturnal and feed on tree sap or rotting\/overripe fruit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Growing threat to native ecosystems<\/h2>\n

Ramie moth caterpillars are prolific feeders known to quickly defoliate māmaki<\/span> (Pipturus albidus<\/em>), a native Hawaiian plant vital to our forests and culturally significant for its use in lāʻau<\/span> lapaʻau,<\/span> traditional Hawaiian healing practices.<\/p>\n

“We are really worried about this because we’ve seen it spread from Maui to the Big Island in 2020, then to Oʻahu<\/span> in 2024, and now to Kauaʻi,”<\/span> said Michelle Au, a graduate student at the ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> Mānoa<\/span> College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>) who has been tracking the pest since 2019.<\/p>\n

Au highlighted the broader ecological risk: the caterpillars also feed on other endemic nettles including endangered species like maʻoloa<\/span> (Neraudia angulata<\/em>). The ramie moths also compete for the same resources with native species such as the Kamehameha butterfly and endangered endemic land snails.<\/p>\n

Finding natural predators<\/h2>\n
\"moth
Ramie moth eggs are mostly found individually on the underside of leaves, along the leaf edge or veins. It takes less than a week for eggs to hatch once laid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the moth continues its rapid expansion across the islands, Au’s research has focused on the detection of resident natural enemies that could help manage this pest. “We’ve been looking for predators and parasitoids already in our environment that may expand its host range and attack the eggs, caterpillars, and adults of the ramie moth, helping to manage populations from devastating levels,” Au said.<\/p>\n

Au’s research monitors specimens at various field sites to determine what percentage of ramie moth eggs reach adulthood, which then will lay eggs and inflict future damage.<\/p>\n

Community help needed<\/h2>\n

“I rely heavily on public reports of this pest, especially for new detections,” Au said. “The biggest thing for us right now, especially for Kauaʻi,<\/span> is to raise awareness in order to track the spread of this pest.”<\/p>\n

Officials ask the public to report sightings with photos to 643pest.org<\/a> or email ipmlab@hawaii.edu. ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½ CTAHR<\/abbr>’s extension page on the ramie moth<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A live ramie moth caterpillar was discovered on Kauaʻi<\/span> last month, marking the first detection of this invasive species on the Garden Isle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":229659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[212,665,1363,1314,73,9],"class_list":["post-229650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-conservation","tag-manoa-research","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/manoa-ctahr-ramie-moth.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229650"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229662,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229650\/revisions\/229662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}