In 1998 an All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) was begun in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) with the goal of identifying all life from within the boundaries of the Park. Intensive arthropod sampling was started in 2000 at 11 plot locations, with each plot 1ha in area and representing a unique habitat type. Two malaise traps are located at each plot and will be run continuously for a two-year period and collected twice monthly. This current project will work to identify all crane flies (Trichoceridae, Ptychopteridae, Tipulidae, Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae) collected from this sampling. The goals of this current project will be four fold: 1) creation of a Park species list; 2) creation of collection curves for each malaise trap to identify sampling completeness; 3) determination of community assemblages at each location and of complimentarity between malaise traps; 4) plotting of the emergence patterns at each malaise trap. Presently one year of data has been collected. This year of sampling has resulted in the identification of 158 species of crane flies, with 58 species being new records for GRSM. In addition, two species new to science have been identified and are currently in the description process.
Species 1: Diptera Tipulidae (Crane Fly)
Species 2: Diptera Trichoceridae (Crane Fly)
Species 3: Diptera Ptychopteridae (Crane Fly)
Keywords: biological diversity, inventory
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