Previous collection of Pauropoda fauna in GSMNA used Tullgren type funnels for extraction. The DLIA grant made it possible to visit collecting plots (e.g. Road Prong, Clingmans Dome, Newfound Gap, Greenbrier Cove, Twin Creek, Ravensford) to collect samples manually (from the underside of stones and logs and under the bark of dead trees) and to extract specimens by water flotation. Despite dry soils, Pauropods were found at about 30 different sites. The result of this collecting are hundreds of specimens of 38 species, seven or eight of them new to science, indicating unusually high diversity. Valuable information concerning soil types and vegetation should be documented for use in future description of the Pauropoda fauna of the GSMNP. The time consuming taxonomical study of both the manually collected specimens and the flotation material will begin in early 2003. Then a first manuscript with descriptions of new species will be prepared and forwarded for publication.

Principal Investigator

PI Name:  Dr. Ulf Scheller

PI Organization:  Häggeboholm, Sweden

Primary Taxonomist

Taxonomist Name:  Dr. Ulf Scheller

Taxonomist Organization:  Häggeboholm, Sweden