Located in an archipelago comprised of the volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, the state of Hawaii consists entirely of islands and the flora and fauna exhibit a high degree of endemism. The “3 W’s” Wind, Waves and Wings used to be the only way to get to Hawaii before humans starting bringing organism with them. The waves transported coconuts, swimming animals and animals caught on floating objects to the island, the wind brought airborn seeds and tiny organisms and the wings, I.E. the birds and the insects, could arrive at their own accord and would sometimes carry stowaways like nuts, seeds and parasites.
Hawaii is located rough¶y 4000km (2400 miles) from the nearest continental shore and is therefore the most isolated group of islands on the planet. The existing main islands have only been above surface for 10 million years, but other high volcanic islands existed before them so biological colonization of land organisms was already taking place in the region when the current islands emerged from the sea. Many submerged banks and coral atolls in the area are remnants of these ancient peaks.
Hawaii’s remoteness has acted as biological filter since a population of a colonizing species here tend to stem from a very narrow number of settlers; sometimes just one or two organisms that happen to end up on the island and find favourable conditions. This leads to a narrowing of the gene pool and the species as it exists today can be very different from its original mainland population.
Birds are often among the first larger animals to find new Islands due to their ability to fly. Most birds might just fly on or return to wherefrom they came but some will stay and is time the ancestors of these birds might develop into new species. This is as an example where you find the Hawaiian duck (Anas wyvilliana), the Hawaiian Goose (Branta sandvicensis), Hawaiian Petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis) as well as the Hawaiian Hawk (Buteo solitarius). Their names in the local language are Koloa Maoli, Nene, Ua u, and Io, respectively.
A good example of the numerous Hawaiian tropical flowers Endemic to the islands is Hibiscus brackenridgei, the official state flower of Hawaii. It is known as Ma’o hau hele in the local language and can be found in shrub lands and dry forrest areas below an elevation of 800 meters (2600ft). Although rare, it is found on all the main islands except Ni’ihau and Kaho’olawe. Ma’o hau hele produces large yellow flowers with a maroon centre that grows singly or in small clusters at the ends of branches.
Among the spiders and insects that have managed to colonize Hawaii you will find the snail eating caterpillar Hyposmocoma molluscivora, which is more commonly known as the happy faced spider Theridion grallator, and the tree-living snail Achatinella apexfulva. Hyposmocoma molluscivora is a type of moth and the larvea of this moth species uses silk to capture snails and then crawls into their shells where they eat the snail alive. The caterpillars are only found on the island of Maui and are known to make a case out of silk and decorate it with actual snail shells, perhaps in an effort to camouflage themselves from their prey.
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