Lepidoptera Bioblitz 2004
Lepidoptera Bioblitz 2004
The Lepidoptera Twig of the Great Smoky Mountains ATBI plans a Lepidoptera quest/bioblitz for late July of 2004. We have been very successful with similar efforts in 2000 and 2002. Our emphasis this coming summer will be gathering a large amount of georeferenced specimen data on larger moths, working toward piloting dynamic web pages for some of the groups of macrolepidoptera. Over the course of the blitz we hope to add several thousand data points to our existing data base of over 15,000 records. In addition we propose to start a major effort to document the DNA sequences of the CO1 gene for most of the macrolepidoptera taken on the blitz (likely several hundred species). Dr. Paul Hebert of the University of Guelph will coordinate this effort, which will provide valuable data for anyone doing systematic work on eastern North American moths groups. In addition it will provide a database to allow identifications even in the larval stage, by comparing sequences with known adults.
More than 40 scientists and trained volunteers participated in the bioblitz in July of 2004. The blitz was run like previous collecting efforts, but an emphasis was put on getting a complete voucher set of all species seen so that we could take DNA samples and cryopreserve specimens for later study. We were able to get DNA samples from 642 species of Lepidoptera and get cryopreserved samples from more than 300 specimens. The blitz confirmed that our Park list for macrolepidoptera is approaching completion, but the microlepidoptera list is still growing. We added only 24 new species records because most microleps require dissection for positive ID. Significant were the addition of two need families, the Opostegidae and the Epipyropidae as well as a new butterfly, the Olive Hairstreak. Overall the blitz recorded 805 species, 9 of which are currently undescribed. As data is recorded we will be adding several thousand records to our database.
