Great Basin’s 2018 Beetle BioBlitz: 500 Specimens and 65 New Species for the Park

In 2018 Great Basin National Park in Nevada turned its yearly species hunt to beetles. Its tenth annual BioBlitz — an intensive, all-hands survey of one group of living things — brought more than 40 participants together for three days, led by Nevada State Entomologist Jeff Knight.

BioBlitz participants consult Nevada’s state entomologist about their beetles. NPS photo.

Who came

The volunteers came from state and federal agencies, museums and naturalist groups:

• the Nevada Department of Agriculture, Nevada Division of Forestry and Nevada Natural Heritage Program
• the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Health Protection Program
• the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
• the Bristlecone Audubon Society and Utah State University’s Utah Master Naturalist Program
• citizen scientists from Nevada, Utah and California

How they hunted

The event opened with Knight’s workshop on beetle diversity and collecting techniques, followed by a field demonstration of the methods: sweep nets and forceps by day, light traps at night, and Berlese funnels. Participants then chose where to search each day and night.

BioBlitz Participants use a microscope to see their finds better. A workshop at the beginning of the BioBlitz informed participants of what to look for. NPS Photo.

Between them they covered the park’s full range of height and habitat — from the Great Basin Visitor Center at 5,300 feet to the top of Wheeler Peak at 13,063 feet — searching streams, wetlands, woodlands, sagebrush and grassy areas.

Protecting the trees from beetles

Not every beetle is welcome. On the third day, U.S. Forest Service forest health entomologist Danielle Malesky spoke at the amphitheater of the Wheeler Peak Campground, at 10,000 feet, about the mountain pine beetle: its life cycle, how it uses trees, and how the Forest Service and the park are working together to protect high-priority trees, like those around the campground.

She showed how the pheromone verbenone works: it sends a chemical signal that a tree is already full of beetles, so newcomers go elsewhere. She also stressed buying firewood locally — moving firewood across county or state lines can carry new pests to places where they can destroy the trees.

The results

• more than 500 specimens collected
• an estimated 65 species added to the park’s list, based on preliminary identifications — among them numerous flower and leaf beetles

Knight took the specimens back to his lab to keep identifying them over the following months. The park planned its next BioBlitz on bats.

Sources

Based on "2018 Beetle BioBlitz Results," by Gretchen Baker, ecologist, Great Basin National Park, first published in The Midden (Vol. 18, No. 1, Summer 2018), National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Pictures an earlier version of this page left out were restored on 2026-09-26.