Field Notes in Support of a Revision of Hawaiian Carabidae James K. Liebherr* Cornell University Ithaca, NY, U.S.A. * Curator (Ret.) Cornell University Insect Collection, and Professor Emeritus 23 August 2021 Field Notes in Support of a Revision of Hawaiian Carabidae © 2021 by James K. Liebherr is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Cornell University Insect Collection John H. and Ann B. Comstock Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-2601 U.S.A. ii Table of Contents Foreword ……………………………………………………………….…………………………. iv 00.—Introduction …………………………………………………………………..………….. 1 01.—Kauaˋi; 9-22 March, 10-16 May 1991 ……..…………………………...….... 7 02.—Hawaiˋi Island; 23 March-5 April 1991 ..…………………………..…….… 21 03.—Haleakalā; 8-13 April 1991, 29 April–9 May 1991 …………….…….… 27 04.—Oˋahu; 20–23 April, 18 May 1991 ………………………..……….…..….…..41 05.—Molokaˋi; 24-27 April 1991 …………………………………….……..….………45 06.—West Maui, 11-15 May 1992; Molokaˋi, 15-16 May 1992 ...……… 50 07.—Maui Nui, 29 April-21 May 1993 (Lānaˋi, Molokaˋi, West Maui, Haleakalā) ……………….………………………………………………………………….…….61 08.—Oˋahu, 1-15 May 1995 .………………………………….……………………..…. 89 09.—Kauaˋi, 16-22 May 1995 ………………….………………..…………..………. 104 10.—Maui + Molokaˋi 20-31 May 1997 …..……………………………………... 114 11.—Hawaiˋi Island—1–6 June 1997 …..………………………..……………….. 134 12.—Hawaiˋi Island—9–17 October 1997 …..……………………….…….….. 138 13.—Haleakalā, Maui—30 April–15 May 1998 ….…………………………... 145 14.—Haleakalā and West Maui—15–23 May 2001 …….………….………. 167 15.—Hawaiˋi Island—23–27 May 2001 …………………..…………..…………. 179 16.—Haleakalā, Maui, 14–20 May 2003 …………………………………………. 184 17.—Hawaiˋi Island, 21–25 May 2003 ………………..………………………….. 192 18.—Lānaˋi, Molokaˋi, West Maui, 10–28 May 2004 …..……..….………. 198 iii 19.—Molokaˋi and Polipoli, Haleakalā, 11–14 May 2004 …..……..…… 213 20.—Kauaˋi, 17–26 May 2005 ……………………………..………………………… 226 21.—Oˋahu, Waiˋanae, Mt. Kaˋala, 29 July 2006 ………….………………... 243 Foreword This volume is intended to provide a resumé of field activities that provided the specimens for taxonomic revisions of the native Hawaiian Carabidae, variously known colloquially as ground beetles (though the majority of species may live only part of their lives on the ground), or simply, carabid beetles. This book could be used to follow the day-to-day collecting activities of myself and colleagues, who came to be known among ourselves as the Bugstrafe Team. However, I believe it more important that these notes provide access to specimen data presented in my taxonomic publications treating the native carabids. Thus, the specimen data can be viewed in a more holistic framework that includes the other co-occurring species, plus records of the collecting circumstances of the specimens. All of my taxonomic papers are listed in the Introduction, with those revisionary works essential for identifying any native Hawaiian carabid beetle. Thus, when one confronts a species treatment in a publication, or a listing of collecting data for any species, this publication can be consulted to learn more about what was encountered during that collecting event, what type of habitat was being sampled, or what collecting method was employed to procure that particular specimen. To facilitate finding such information, the field notes remain in chronological order. Each collecting lot represents an event, or a discrete set of contemporaneous collecting events, defined by the date, locality, collecting method, host plant or microhabitat. I have undertaken this presentation in order to follow the good example set by Dr. R. C. L. Perkins, who transcribed his Hawaiian field notes onto typed manuscript pages, long available only to Hawaiian entomological aficionados who haunted various museum and university archives looking for Perkins’ memorabilia. Fortunately, Dr. Neal Evenhuis has brought together an immense amount of Perkins’ notes in his incredibly useful edited book, Barefoot on Lava: The Journals and Correspondence of Naturalist R.C.L. Perkins in Hawai'i, 1892-1901 (Bishop Museum Bulletin in Zoology 7: 412 pp.). My notes rather more focus on carabid beetles, reflecting my much narrower grasp of Hawaiian natural history. But other insects that resulted from my field work—such as various beetle and sucking bug (Hemiptera) taxa—are mentioned where I was able to record them. Therefore, given label information on a Hawaiian insect specimen collected by me, the user will be able to learn more about what happened that day and place. I know that future generations will continue to be enthralled with Hawaiian biodiversity, and it is my intention that these notes provide a snapshot in time to which future scientists can refer to during their important and pleasurable work in the islands. James K. Liebherr, Ithaca, NY iv Revision of Hawaiian Carabidae Introduction James K. Liebherr Field Notes in support of a revision of Hawaiian Carabidae—1991–2005 Introduction This introduction provides supporting documentation for the following chapters of field notes. The notes that follow were written in the field—in tents or cabins at night or during rainy spells (or both), in airports waiting for flights, or in Bishop Museum while awaiting the next field operation—more or less contemporaneously with the recorded field activities. The original notebooks, which started as spiral bound flip books on lined paper and finished as bound Rite in the Rain notebooks with waterproof paper, are deposited in the Cornell University Archives. These transcribed notes are also preserved as an archival hard copy in the CU Archives alongside the original notebooks. When transcribing the notebooks, I removed any personal information such as phone numbers, and I fuzzed addresses of individuals, though I have retained directions on how to find specific collecting spots within natural areas. It is mandatory that anybody trying to follow these notes in order to enter State, Federal, or personal property anywhere in the State of Hawaii have the required permits to enter and conduct activities on such property. Any entry of municipal, governmental, or jointly administered private lands by helicopter requires a helicopter landing permit and applicable legal waivers issued by the appropriate authorities (State, Federal, or private), so all entries and associated activities must start with contacting local authorities to gain permission to enter and study nature. This is not only ethical behavior, but also required for the safety of everybody. The natural areas of Hawaii may seem idyllic, but they are unforgiving for the unprepared. The land forms include steep angles of repose and numerous hidden voids, and one step could be the last. This project started with my inability to answer what might seem a simple question. Professor Stewart Peck asked me in 1984, “Jim, what do you know about the Hawaiian anchomenines?” My stammered reply was “Uh, nothing.” This conversation took place in his kitchen during a post-ESA/CES-ESC Coleopterists’ Society gathering in Ottawa, with Bob Anderson, Quentin Wheeler, Stephen Nichols, and Bob Davidson all staying in Stewart’s and Jarmila Kukalova-Peck’s home. As I was then working on platynine carabid beetles (the more recently used, nomenclaturally correct name for “anchomenines”), I should have known something. But the Hawaiian fauna was completely foreign to me, even though it occupied one of our 50 United States. I endeavored to learn more about them, gazing through Dr. David Sharp’s Carabidae volume of the Fauna Hawaiiensis. The cuticular ornamentation and varied body forms pictured in Sharp’s volume intrigued my mind, and the extreme levels of diversity, island-specific endemism, and multiple, morphologically similar representative species on adjacent islands suggested these animals were an appropriate subject for extended evolutionary study. For the next eight years I continued my work on Mexican platynines, which was an organic outgrowth of my dissertation research on Agonum beetles centered in the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts. But in 1988, at the International Congress of Entomology in Vancouver, Dr. Al Samuelson showed me illustrations of two cave platynines collected by Dr. Frank Howarth in a cave in Kipahulu Valley, Maui. Al had heard from Prof. George Ball that I worked on platynines, and so asked me whether I would like to work with him to describe these two species. I agreed, and we co-authored a paper in Pan-Pacific Entomologist describing Atelothrus howarthi and Atelothrus aaae in 1992. Preparation of this manuscript showed my limitations in understanding Hawaiian platynines, as we placed the species generically based on their pronotal setation, in keeping with conventions established by David Sharp. However, the female reproductive tract characters were so different between these two species that I had some doubts about generic placement of them. More study ensued. 1 Revision of Hawaiian Carabidae Introduction James K. Liebherr The hook having been seriously set, I made plans for a 1991 sabbatic leave to be hosted by Bishop Museum in Honolulu, with the leave commencing as a 6-week family “vacation”, or “fake-ation”, where we would visit various islands together, and I would collect carabids. In retrospect this worked only because of my wife’s grace and forgiveness. I would not suggest it as a way to undertake a Hawaiian family vacation. The second portion of the Hawaiian leave involved collecting on various islands with