Fly Times Issue 48, April 2012 - North American Dipterists Society

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MEETING NEWS
Diptera BioBlitz, Great Basin National Park, Nevada, June 19-21, 2012
Gretchen Baker
Ecologist, 100 Great Basin National Park, Baker, Nevada 89311, USA;
775-234-7541, Gretchen_Baker@nps.gov
Great Basin National Park would like to invite you to the 2012 BioBlitz, which will focus on Diptera
(flies). The BioBlitz will be held June 19-21, 2012. We are excited to have Dr. Riley Nelson from
Brigham Young University be our lead Diptera expert for the event.
Why You Should Come.
First off, Great Basin National Park is a beautiful place, and in late June is filled with wildflowers,
singing birds, and an abundance of wildlife. The creeks and springs are running high, making this
destination in the Great Basin Desert greener than ever. The snow is melting quickly, and the Scenic
Drive that ascends to 10,000 feet is already open at the end of April, so it will be easy to access the high
country.
Second, Diptera have received very little attention in Great Basin National Park. They have been
surveyed during cave bioinventories and to a limited extent (to family and in a couple campgrounds) by
Glen Forister and Matt Forister during a previous BioBlitz. The cave bioinventories have found six new
Diptera species: Camptochaeta prolixa Vilkamaa, Aenigmatias bakerae Disney, Megaselia excuniculus
Disney, M. krejcae Disney, M. folliculorum Disney, and M. necpleuralis Disney. The potential for
additional new species to science is high!
Third, this is an excellent networking opportunity with other entomologists and enthusiastic amateurs.
You may be able to find someone to help with your next project. In addition, if there's something of
particular interest you'd like to collect, you may be able to get a separate research permit and do some
collecting of your taxa of interest at the same time.
Logistics. BioBlitz participants receive free camping at Grey Cliffs campground. The free camping will
start one day before and extend to one day after the BioBlitz, June 18-22. The Grey Cliffs campground
has some group sites, so that makes it extra fun for breakfast discussions or late-night comparisons. RVs
and trailers are allowed, but no hook-ups are available in the Park. If you don't want to camp, there are
3 RV parks in Baker and 6 motel/bed & breakfast options. There are also 2 convenience stores and 4
restaurants. More info about all of these places is available at: http://www.greatbasinpark.com/. We are
also looking for a few people who would be willing to venture into the backcountry to sample the more
remote parts of the park. Backcountry camping is free and extremely scenic.
Average temperatures in June at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center (6800 ft) are a high of 76 F and a low
of 48 F. Grey Cliffs Campground is at 7200 ft, so might be a couple of degrees cooler. A chance of rain
is possible any day in June (and snow at the higher elevations). For more climate info, see:
http://www.nps.gov/grba/planyourvisit/weather.htm#CP_JUMP_26562.