Research Professor Jut Wynne from Northern Arizona University published a hypothesis stating that certain species and insects found in Hawai'i and Rapa Nui might be canoe bugs.
"I started getting into bugs because of my interest in caves," Wynne said. "It just was a natural progression. And so I knew when I went to Rapa Nui that was going to be what we would need to focus our efforts on."
Wynne is currently on a Dutch sailing ship near Pitcairn Island, where he is conducting his research as part of DARWIN200, a global conservation initiative.
"We discovered 10 new species — species that were new to science, undescribed," Wynne said. "And of those, most of these animals were restricted to the cave entrances, and they were occurring within the fern gardens, the endemic ferns that were within the entrances of the caves. We've since found them in a few other locations as the work evolved over time, well, we found a curious pattern."
To find Wynne's research, click here.
This interview aired on The Conversation on June 28, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
