Dicranopteris linearis (Uluhe)

Gleicheniaceae

Indigenous

Although there is an endemic subspecies, I believe the most common form is the indigenous subspecies. The right picture shows how this viney fern crawls over forest openings. It also grows over the top of itself and creates thickets up to several meters high, with all but the top layer brown and dead. Despite its ubiquitousness, it is threatened in some areas by the invasive two-spotted leafhopper.

Lepidoptera collected from this plant in the Alaka`i Swamp:

• Amorbia emigratella * (Tortricidae)
• Eupithecia rhodopyra (Geometridae)
• Eupithecia sp. (Geometridae)
• Haliophyle euclidias (Noctuidae)
• Hyposmocoma spp. (Cosmopterigidae)
• Thyrocopa sp. (Oecophoridae)

H. euclidias is a generalist fern feeder. E. rhodopyra is an obligate carnivore that perches on the edge of a live green frond. The other Eupithecia sp. is also an uluhe specialist, but is brown/tan patterned and perches on the dead, brown part of the fern masses. I think it must be described but I did not succeed in rearing one to adulthood. If anyone knows which one it is, please let me know! Thyrocopa makes constructs a frass casing in a green frond, but seems to feed on decaying tissue that it kills. Several case-bearers in the genus Hyposmocoma were also collected from uluhe. At least one appears to feed on the leaf material.