The Van Voast-American Museum of Natural History Bahama Islands Expedition : record of the expedition and general features of the islands. American Museum novitates ; no. 1836

Abstract

"In the 20 weeks from December, 1952, to May, 1953, spent in the Bahamas, the Van Voast-American Museum of Natural History Bahama Islands Expedition collected 48,500 insects and arachnids, 2106 reptiles, 684 amphibians, and 67 mammals. With the exclusion of the arachnids, the composition is: Insects: Thysanura, 50; Collembola, 100; Orthoptera, 470; Isoptera, 500; Neuroptera, 140; Ephemeroptera, 5; Odonata, 300; Corrodentia, 92; Thysanoptera, 50; Hemiptera, 6,560; Homoptera, 5,970; Dermaptera, 78; Coleoptera, 9,450; Trichoptera, 2; Lepidoptera, 8,330; Diptera, 11,980; Hymenoptera, 1,850. Reptiles: Anolis, 991; Leiocephalus, 518; Ameiva, 249; Sphaerodactylus, 202; Cyclura, 63; Tarentola, 14; Aristelliger, 12; Mabuya, 11; Alsophis, 12; Tropidophis, 9; Epicrates, 4; Pseudemys, 21. Amphibians: Eleutherodactylus, 411; Hyla, 273. Mammals: Artibeus, 32; Erophylla, 27; Macrotus, 5; Geocapromys, 3. Cold, dry weather and high winds during the first seven weeks contributed to the poor entomological and herpetological collecting results. Evidence of this is that we collected a many insects during the last two weeks as we did during the first six weeks. Our collecting sites, with their latitudes, longitudes, dates, and locations on the map (fig. 1) are given in table 3. This expedition made the first comprehensive entomological survey of the Bahamas, added many new locality records for the reptiles and amphibians, and substantially augmented the existing series of Bahama herpetological material. With the exception of Great Exuma Island, the Ragged Island Group, and Samana Cay, the expedition collected on all the major islands and island groups in the Bahamas. Collections made between May and October would greatly help to complement our material. Likewise, intensive work on individual islands, such as that described by Vaurie (1952), Howard (1950), and Oliver (1948) for Bimini, will be necessary in order to gain a clearer understanding of the Bahama biota"--P. 45-47.