Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site Inventory of Aquatic Insects

Parker, Charles

In September 2010, the author was asked to conduct an inventory of the aquatic insects of Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site (CARL) in Flat Rock, Henderson County, North Carolina. This survey was designed to assess the fauna of Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Odonata (damselflies and dragonflies), Plecoptera (stoneflies), Megaloptera (sialids, fishflies, hellgrammites and dobsonflies), and Trichoptera (caddisflies) in the park. We refer to these as the target species. With the aid of CARL management and staff, we sampled 26 locations in the park, making more than 100 collections and observations of aquatic insects, and documenting more than 160 target species, including new park, state, and regional occurrence records. As a by-product of this effort, we also were able to record the presence in CARL of more than 250 non-target taxa, such as beetles, flies, ants, wasps, bees, lacewings, spiders, and others. The data from this effort include a database of more than 3,200 specimen records containing taxonomic identifications of most target specimens, and geographic information on all sample locations. More than 12,000 specimens have been cataloged, curated, and will be consolidated into the CARL natural history collection at the park. This report details the methods and results of the effort, and is presented in the hope that the data will be of use to the park and the National Park Service for management and conservation applications in the future.

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site Inventory of Aquatic Insects

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