Invasive species in Hawaii and health-related problems. The introduction of mosquitoes to Hawaii has resulted in the spread of avian malaria, and increases the risk of dengue and west Nile virus (not known to be in Hawaii yet). Other native species can be affected by invasive species diseases as well, such as the once-dominant koa tree being killed by koa wilt, which is believed to have been brought into Hawaii on an ornamental acacia plant, and the 'ohi'a tree, now being affected by Rapid Ohia Death. Invasive predators can severely reduce the population sizes of native species, or even drive them extinct, because native
Scotorythra paludicola State Park. Laboratory feeding trials of these larvae showed that they could complete their development at the same rate on both the normal host ("Acacia koa") and the invasive tree ("Falcataria moluccana"). Three other exotic tree species, "Acacia confusa", "Prosopis pallida", and "Leucaena leucocephala" were not suitable host plants and all the larvae tested on these species died after 5 days of feeding. Scotorythra paludicola Scotorythra paludicola, the koa looper moth, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1879. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Oahu, Maui and