Nebraskaland

38 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015 prey is available in large blocks of grasslands and woodlands, much of which has been lost to the plow and saw. While farming isn't compatible with beetles, ranching is. The insects do fine in grasslands that have been hayed or grazed. Light pollution and the effect it might have on nocturnal species may also be a factor. By the time the American burying beetle was added to the federal list of endangered species in 1989, the only documented populations anywhere in the country were in Oklahoma and Rhode Island. At the time, only sparse records existed in Nebraska, including one from Lincoln County a year earlier. But with a federal listing comes awareness, and later, research. In 1992, several American burying beetles were found during surveys for mammals on the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in Cherry County, and another that somehow died in a boat during the winter. In 1994, a girl from Keya Paha County pinned one in her insect collection that was entered in the state fair, much to the surprise of entomologists who saw it. Building on these discoveries, researchers have since found that the Sandhills region stretching from Cherry to Knox counties and from northern Custer County north into South Dakota is home to the state's – and perhaps the nation's – largest population of beetles. Another accidental discovery of American burying beetles was made by a Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District biologist conducting shrew surveys in 1994. An expanded search identified another healthy population of beetles in the rugged Loess Canyons region stretching from the Platte River between North Platte and Lexington south to Curtis. "Historically, 200 years ago, American burying beetles occurred throughout eastern Nebraska," said Dr. Wyatt Hoback, an entomologist who has spent much of his career studying the species. "There are historic records from Lancaster and Antelope counties. But those populations no longer exist, and that's because of human disturbance." Research Not surprisingly, the Loess Canyons and eastern Sandhills regions represent the remaining areas in Nebraska with sufficient unbroken grasslands and rainfall to support American burying beetles. But threats to the insect remain in both areas, and have driven research that has increased the understanding of the insect. The federal Endangered Species Act and Nebraska's own version of the law requires that projects not harm a listed species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission work with project planners to find ways to avoid harming species, come up with ways to minimize losses, or to compensate for losses through habitat acquisition and WYATT HOBACK Estimated Current Range of the American Burying Beetle in Nebraska – 2014 Several other species of burying beetles are usually caught in baited pitfall traps used to survey American burying beetles. In this trap are Gold-necked carrion beetle (Nicrophorus tomentosus), easily identified by the yellow hairs on its thorax, and the margined burying beetle (Nicrophorus marginatus).

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