PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 92(2), 1990, pp. 259-270 FIRST RECORD OF A BAGWORM MOTH FROM HAWAII: DESCRIPTION AND INTRODUCTION OF BRACHYCYTTARUS GRISEUS DE JOANNIS (LEPIDOPTERA: PSYCHIDAE) Donald R. Davis Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Insti-tution, Washington, D.C. 20560. Abstract.— \3r\X\\ recently no representative of the bagworm family Psychidae was known to occur in the Hawaiian Islands. The first infestation of Brachycyttarus griseus De Joannis was discovered during 1984 in a residential area of Haiku on Oahu. The species has since spread to several areas on Oahu and Kauai, where the larvae feed on the introduced grass, Paspalum conjugatum Berg. Originally described from Vietnam, B. griseus has also be-come established in Guam where it is parasitized by a tachinid fly, Stomatomyia species. All stages of B. griseus are described and illustrated and a map showing its present Hawaiian distribution is included. Key Words: Lepidoptera, Psychidae, bagworm, introduced species, Hawaii Until 1984 no species of the bagworm family Psychidae was known to occur in the Hawaiian Islands. In 1984 1 received spec-imens, which I later determined as Brachy-cyttarus griseus De Joannis, from Po-Yung Lai of the Hawaii Department of Agricul-ture. The infestation was discovered in a residential area of Haiku (Kaneohe, see Map 1), Oahu. This site is about 15 mi [24 km] from Honolulu Harbor, the largest shipping dock in Hawaii, and about 17 mi [27 km] from Honolulu International .Airport. The bagworm is now established on Oahu and has been encountered at nine different sites in or near Honolulu and Kaneohe (Map 1). The larva is known to feed on Hilo grass, Paspalum conjugatum Berg, another intro-duced species that has already interfered with the propagation of several rare endem-ic plants (Vitousek et al. 1987). On Guam the larva is reported to feed on Zoysia pun-gens Willd. (= japonica Steud.) and "mixed native grasses" (Muniappan, in litt.). Brachycyttarus griseus was first reported from Hanoi, Vietnam (De Joannis 1929). Considering the magnitude of traffic and shipping from Vietnam, particularly within the previous two decades, it is likely that fertile females or eggs were introduced into Honolulu during that period. However, lit-tle is known about the present species dis-tribution. From adults examined in the Smithsonian Institution (USNM), it is ap-parent that B. griseus has existed in the Phil-ippines for some time. Several specimens were collected at Los Baiios, Luzon, some as early as 1918. Labels indicate that a few specimens were reared from grass, thus agreeing with all other host records of B. griseus. Also present in the same collection is a series of grass-covered cases from Ser-dany, Malaysia that is identical to the Hawaiian material. No adults were reared from the Malaysian cases. On the basis of specimens and reports received from R. Muniappan, L. Stevens, and R. Shook of
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