MOTHS OF UMATILLA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE: Results from 10 sites Sampled May 22-23, 2017 Dana Ross 1005 NW 30th Street Corvallis, OR 97330 (541) 758-3006
[email protected] SUMMARY Macro-moths were sampled from the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge for a third time 22-23 May, 2017 as part of an ongoing pollinator inventory. Blacklight traps were deployed for a single night at ten sites representative of major plant communities in the McCormack and Paterson Units. A grand total of 331 specimens and 36 moth species were sampled. Of those, 17 species (47%) were documented from the refuge for the first time. In a somewhat larger geographical context, 21 species were recorded for the first (8), second (7) or third (6) time from Morrow County, Oregon while 4 species were documented for the first (1) or second (3) time from Benton County, Washington. INTRODUCTION National Wildlife Refuges protect important habitats for many plant and animal species. Refuge inventories have frequently included plants, birds and mammals, but insects - arguably the most abundant and species-rich group in any terrestrial habitat - have largely been ignored. Small size, high species richness and a lack of identification resources have all likely contributed to their being overlooked. Certain groups such as moths, however, can be easily and inexpensively sampled using light traps and can be identified by regional moth taxonomists. Once identified, many moth species can be tied to known larval hostplant species at a given site, placing both insect and plant within a larger ecological context. Moths along with butterflies belong to the insect Order Lepidoptera.