The survey described in this report was a follow-up to a larger biodiversity inventory conducted by the NCBP in the Durham County portion of the New Hope Creek floodplain in 2021 and 2022. The current study focuses much more narrowly on mapping the distributions within the New Hope floodplain of two of its rarest species, Big Shellbark Hickory (Carya laciniosa), and the White-nymph (…
Read biodiversity-related publications by NCBP members.
Arthonia rubrocincta morphologically and anatomically fits the generic concept of Coniocarpon and is here transferred to the latter genus as Coniocarpon rubrocinctum. Specimens from southeastern United States and Bahamas were studied and the range of the species is found to extend north into North Carolina, USA and southeast to the Bahamas. Thatch palm (…
This article details a surprising record for a western dragonfly species by Brian Bockhahn in Onslow County, North Carolina in 2020.
Abstract: One hundred five species of lichenized and allied fungi are reported from recent and historical collections made in the Mitchell Mill State Natural Area in northeastern Wake County, North Carolina, USA. Mitchell Mill is unique among granitic flatrock communities in the southeastern United States by having riparian elements from the Little River, which flows directly over the flatrock…
Read the report from the NCBP's 2021-2022 biodiversity survey of the New Hope Creek floodplain and associated areas.
Chenia leptophylla is reported new to North Carolina based on a single population in Harnett County. Selected locations of global distribution and all known state distribution within the U.S.A. are presented with commonly used synonyms. A brief description of newly discovered foliar rhizoids and phenological forms as observed in North Carolina plants is included.
Due to the increasing popularity of websites specializing in nature documentation, there has been a surge in the number of people enthusiastic about observing and documenting nature over the past 2 decades. These citizen scientists are recording biodiversity on unprecedented temporal and spatial scales, rendering data of tremendous value to the scientific community. In this study, we…
We present novel rearing records of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from throughout the United States. We describe leaf mines or other larval habits for 27 species, plus five others whose identification is tentative, and another five that are identified only to genus due to the absence of male specimens. We review host and distribution data for the known species, reporting 26 new host species records (…
We discuss seven species of tortricid moths that are leafminers at least in early instars. These include Grapholita thermopsidis Eiseman & Austin, new species, which feeds on Thermopsis rhombifolia (Pursh) Richardson (Fabaceae), along with two others for which larval hosts were previously unknown: Catastega triangulana Brown (Ericaceae: Arctostaphylos pungens…
Neeurocordulia alabamensis (Alabama Shadowdragon) is one of the most poorly known dragonfly species in eastern North America. On 8 June 2020, we observed three N. alabamensis along Bones Fork, the outflow creek below Lake Baggett in Richmond County, North Carolina.
Abstract: A major inventory of tardigrades in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was conducted and we compared tardigrade species composition in moss and lichen samples and analysed environmental correlates of tardigrade community structure. We also compared these tardigrades with those collected from soil. The basic dataset from tree mosses and lichens consisted of 336 samples, 9200…
We present novel rearing records of Agromyzidae (Diptera) from three years of collecting in North Carolina, USA. These include the first reported host for Calycomyza novascotiensis Spencer (new to the USA) and new host records for Ophiomyia beckeri (Hendel) (new to North America), Liriomyza helianthi Spencer, L. schmidti (Aldrich), and Phytomyza…
We studied lichen communities on bole and base tree trunk segments along forest edge-to-interior gradients on opposite sides of a major highway and a control site in central North Carolina, U.S.A., to investigate if these two communities differ and if so, do they differ in response to highway pollution.
Biological collections are uniquely poised to inform the stewardship of life on Earth in a time of cataclysmic biodiversity loss. Efforts to fully leverage collections are impeded by a lack of trained taxonomists and a lack of interest and engagement by the public. We provide a model of a crowd‐sourced data collection project that produces quality taxonomic data sets and empowers citizen…
Larvae of the New World gracillariid moth genus Marmara are primarily stem/bark miners, with some species mining in leaves or fruits. We describe a new species, M. viburnella Eiseman & Davis, which feeds on Viburnum, initially mining the leaves but completing development as a stem miner. The type series is from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, with observations…
The South American moth Porphyrosela minuta Clarke (Gracillariidae) is documented for the first time in the United States, where it is already widespread. The larvae are leafminers of white clover (Trifolium repens L., Fabaceae). Adults and larval habits are compared with those of the native Nearctic P. desmodiella (Clemens), which mines leaves of several other…
Additional distribution records and habitat information is presented for Melanoplus nossi. Based on the information currently available, M. nossi appears to be endemic to the North American Coastal Plain where it inhabits a variety of open forest or woodland conditions.
Changes in community composition are an important, but hard to predict, effect of climate change. Here, we use a wild-bee study system to test the ability of critical thermal maxima to predict community responses to urban heat-island effects in Raleigh, NC, USA.
Abstract: We provide a comprehensive list of all records of freshwater aquatic tardigrades from North Carolina. In addition, 24 samples of medium and coarse sand were taken from the Davidson River, Transylvania County, NC near the Bobby N. Setzer State Fish Hatchery in the Pisgah National Forest on April 26 and May 3, 2016. Approximately 1900 interstitial microinvertebrates were found…
Biological effects of climate change are expected to vary geographically, with a strong signature of latitude. For ectothermic animals, there is systematic latitudinal variation in the relationship between climate and thermal performance curves, which describe the relationship between temperature and an organism’s fitness. Here, we ask whether these documented latitudinal patterns can be…