These are the tiny heroes coming to the rescue of Hawaii's native Wiliwili trees. A state scientist brought the Eurytoma Erythrinae all the way from Tanzania, Africa. After breeding and testing them for several years in quarantine here, the Department of Agriculture just released 500 of the wasps onto wiliwili trees in Liliha. The Eurytoma Erythrinae will lay eggs on the leaves of the endangered tree. When they hatch, they'll feed on the larvae of the gall wasp, the wiliwili's enemy.

"So it goes in, eats out the larvae stage and of course no new adults wasps hatched out," said Dr. Neil Reimer, manager of the Plan Pest Control Branch of the Dept. of Agriculture.

The gall wasp wasn't discovered here until 2005. By then, the infestation was widespread. You can tell a sick wiliwili by bumps on its leaves caused by the gall wasp larvae. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of wiliwilis have been killed across the state. Scientists say, the new bugs are safe for our eco-system.

"We've done a lot of careful research," said Dr. Reimer. "We've tested against a lot of other gall forming insects, some of them closely related to this gall wasp. It won't attack them. Wont' attack anything else."

This is not the first attempt at ridding a damaging species with natural predators. The infamous mongoose was introduced in the 1880s as a rat hunter. Instead, it went after the nene goose.

In 2007, the state released a wasp to attack the papaya mealy bug, which had been wreaking havoc in papaya, plumeria and hibiscus trees. That's still being monitored. Right now, scientists are studying a brazilian bug that might be used to control the invasive strawberry guava tree. Public hearings should start next year.

If the wiliwili bug war works, Hawaii's dry lowland forests will be a lot thicker in the years to come.

The new bugs are also to be released on neighbor islands.

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