Ruud Kleinpaste: Hibernating chewers

A few weeks ago, after that yucky and cold spell in the middle of winter, I was checking my mistletoe to see how it had been coping under those chilly and frosty conditions. 

Looked okay, but there were a few bite marks on the leaves. Hmmm… nothing worrying about though. 

Ileostylus micranthus is the green mistletoe I “planted” on my kowhai bush a few years ago now.  

The sticky seeds should be adhered to the twigs of the host plant and with a bit of luck the mistletoe will settle itself on that host plant by sending its “roots” (haustoria) into the host plant. The Mistletoe can then draw its nutrients from the host. 

That makes it a “parasite”. 

Under normal circumstances, the sticky seeds are “planted” by birds. They simply try to eat the seeds but often end up wiping their bill clean on the host plant. 

Clever plant! 

My neighbour across the road also has a green mistletoe, but his specimen is situated on a Coprosma virescens bush known by its Māori name as “Mingimingi”. A gorgeous native shrub with a divaricating growth; tangled branches of orange colours and rather small leaflets. 

I decided to see how his green mistletoe was doing after the very cold nights. 

The leaves were chewed significantly – huge chunks eaten out of the edges. The last time I saw that plant it was in great condition, but this winter something or somebody must have had a real go at it. 

A thorough investigation revealed the culprit: an adult Katydid was hiding in the tangled branches of the Mingimingi, sitting very still and using its green camouflage. 

This in itself is quite a weird phenomenon, as I usually see Katydids in summer and autumn but not in winter. 

This native chewer-of-leaves must have found enough shelter inside the Mingimingi to survive the winter conditions and chew away at the parasitic Mistletoe! 

A Vandal Katydid on a Green Mistletoe on a Mingimingi.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
At Me and who else but our man rude climb
past is in the garden this morning. Good morning, hi Jack.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
How is everything going at your blade? Yeah? Very good.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thanks we are. Look, things have are slowly improving. Like
I said to you, we've you know, we've accepted that
a couple of items around the Tame family garden that
were not watered as they should have been last summer,
those have been replaced. We've replanted. Everything's looking okay for
the time being. I'm looking forward to spring a bit
more blossom around our place. But the first of the
blossom is coming through. I've even seen if your daffodils

(00:43):
around the place, so I can't own too much.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yeah, it's interesting here on the porthills a world. We
have quite a few plums already flowering really really oh Gosha,
apricots in full flower. It's it's quite a bit early.
I just said to chat to my neighbor, the one
that we're going to be talking about it. Yeah, same thing.
Everything is a bit early here is crazy. Even their
clematis is very young.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
I mean, apricots and flower.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Now yes, mate, Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I mean this isn't this is not actually a very
good sign.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:15):
I think, I don't know if you've heard, road and
I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of texts
about this. But the climate is changing, yes it is.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Oh yeah, yeah, well yeah, but hang on. These plants
can adept themselves even rather fast sometimes. So if there
is an earlier flowering, now we might have some earlier fruit.
That's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Okay, it's not a big deal.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
It just means we pay less at food town, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Well, if we can enjoy from that benefit, then yes,
I'm all about it, so long as there are no
downside that I've heard.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
That's right anyway. So last a couple of about a
month ago, we had some seriously cold midwinter nonsense going
on here, and I thought cheapest, I know, because I'm
growing this lovely missile toe and that are planted on
a cofi boards here in the garden. And you know missiletes,
don't you getting under the missile toe? And ohh yeah, yeah,

(02:06):
Well we've got a few native quite a few native species,
and I planted one on a kofi bush with a
sticky seed and that's how the that's how that works
with mistletoe. They have fruit if you like, and the
birds like to eat the fruit, and then they eat
the fruit, but the seed is so sticky they have
to wipe their bill on the branch of the tree
where they found the seed. And this is how you

(02:28):
get a new plant.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
It stick Isn't that clear? Yeah, that is amazing.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
So that's it exactly by design. But anyway, so I
just made sure that I wasn't sure if my missletoe
was fine. It was okay, there were a few holes
in it was not good. But then I went to
the cross the road and there's aforementioned mentioned neighbor, Scott.
It's his birthday today anyway, so I had to tell
him that I had a look to see how his

(02:55):
missiletoe was doing. Because his missiletoe is in it is
basically on a Koprosma vhorescence, which is the mingy mingy
that Moldy named for it beautiful shrub by the way, God,
I love resence. And his missilete was almost completely chewed
to bits. It was extrayed in the middle of the winter.

(03:16):
So I thought, let's have a look, and I went
and never looked down there, down into the minimeie plant
and there was an adult Katie did and Katy did
is that green grasshoppery like thing with the long wings,
long antennae and that you know what I mean, And yeah,
slies or jumps away that and it has been literally

(03:38):
surviving that winter's winters area in that mini mean and
eating the missilete It was unbelievable because a I've never
seen a Katie did in the winter time. They usually
go till but lady autumn and that's about it. And
the second thing is I never knew they would have
a go at that flashy leafy leaf of the missilete

(04:00):
It was extraordinary, amazing.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, you've seen a photo through as well. Just for
anyone who is one hundred percent of Katy diaders, will
make sure that photos up on the on the website.
It looked like, to be honest, it had been feeding
in a pretty good paddock if we're perfectly sizable.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, yeah, but that shows you that sometimes these vandals,
these Katie deads, they find their way to survive the
winter and find a very good green.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Green missile teal and I think it's lovely. So they've
went straight onto ich list.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Very good. Hey, thank you so much. Yeah, that's appear.
Like I say, we will make sure Rhod's pictures are
up on the News Talks. He'd be website as well.
Everything from our show goes up there for more from
Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Listen live to News Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday,
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