Non-apoid flower-visiting fauna of everglades National Park, Florida

The non-apoid flower-visiting fauna of Everglades National Park (ENP), Flor ida, was surveyed during 1995-1997 as part of a community pollinator survey . One hundred and thirty one sampling trips were made to four areas of Ever glades National Park (Shark Valley, Chekika, Long Pine Key (LPK), and Flami ngo). Species-month curves indicate that the sampling effort resulted in ca pture of most of the flower-visiting animal species in the park. A total of 143 insects and 1 bird species were recorded. Diptera were the most divers e group (55 spp.), followed by Lepidoptera (42 spp.) and non-apoid Hymenopt era (34 spp.). The majority of species were rare (56% of species were found on fewer than five trips). The highest diversity of species was found from January to May during the peak flowering period in some plant communities. The greatest total diversity was found in Long Pine Key and Shark Valley h ad the lowest diversity. Chekika and Flamingo were intermediate in diversit y. Animals visited 178 plant species,approximate to 26% of the potentially animal pollinated Angiosperm diversity of the park. Twenty-five species of plants had only non-apoid flower visitors; the majority of these species ha d only visits by Lepidoptera. Potentially important pollinator species incl ude members of the Syrphidae, Coleoptera, and Lepidoptera. However, many of the flower-visiting species may not be effective pollinators. This study w ill be useful for designing sampling protocols for including invertebrates in assessments of ecological restoration underway in the Everglades ecosyst em and for more detailed studies of the importance of non-apoid flower-visi tors as effective pollinators.