New species found in the Smokies
An ironwood plume moth was recorded in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for the first time last year. Will Kuhn photo
Three new species of spiders have been discovered in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, bringing the total number of new-to-science species found in the park through Discover Life in America’s All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory project to 1,079 since the project launched in 1998.
The new species are all in the genus Nesticus and are types of cave cobweb spiders, with species names binfordae, cherokeensis and dykemanae.
Additionally, two species have recently been added to the list of those observed within park boundaries. DLiA Science and Research Director Will Kuhn found the ironweed plume moth, a “surprisingly common” caterpillar species, near the DLiA office at Twin Creeks in September 2022. In April 2022, iNaturalist user Jared Gorrell, who describes himself as “an Upland-South-based botanist, birder and herper, though I dabble in basically everything,” uploaded an observation of a soldier beetle, the first time that species had been found in the park.
Currently, 21,669 species have been found in the park, of which 10,894 had not been recorded there before. Learn more at dlia.org or download the iNaturalist app to start observing.
