[1] In 2010, Daniel Rubinoff and Patrick Schmitz at the University of Hawaii at Manoa first described the amphibious habits of the larvae in the moth genus Hyposmocoma of the family Cosmopterigidae.
Young of each species thrive both underwater in rushing streams and exposed to air on rocks poking out of the water.
[2] These caterpillars do not have gills or anything that covers the trachea to operate marine mammals' surface-to-breathe technique for respiration.
[1] They cover themselves with silk "cases" in a variety of shapes and sizes that they add to as they grow, with names such as cones, bugles, burritos, cigars, candy wrappers, oyster shells, dog bones and bow ties.
[1] Rubinoff and Schmitz estimate that this assemblage of species has probably been evolving in the Hawaiian Islands for roughly 20 million years.