Person to contact regarding insect collecting permits: Mr. John F. Cissell; Superintendent; (770) 427-4686. Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park; 905 Kennesaw Mountain Dr.; Kennesaw, GA 30152. [current as of May 2000]
Elevation: 1808 feet. Location of summit: 33°58'49"N; 84°34'73"W
Collection date & weather conditions: This site was visited on May 21, 2000. Collections were undertaken from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM. The weather was partly to mostly cloudy, with the sun breaking out occasionally throughout the time of collecting. Most flies were collected during the time when the sun would shine well enough to cause shadows to form. The occasional direct sunlight was strongest during the last hour of collecting.
Description of summit: During weekdays, you can drive to a parking area within approximately 500 yards of the summit. On weekends you need to park by the Visitor Center and take a bus up to the upper parking area. The bus leaves every 30 minutes. The trail to the actual summit is paved, but rather steep until it levels off at the top. With a bit of effort and a little help, even someone in a wheelchair could get up to the top. The short trail goes through woods then opens up at the summit to an area of bare rock. Just past this the trail goes into a partly wooded area with split-rail fences and a cannon. The most productive areas for collection of Sarcophagidae specimens were on the split-rail fences before the cannon and in front of the cannon. Some flies were collected on the cannon and some were collected on the bare rock area. Almost no specimens were collected on vegetation.
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| A patch of bare rock is located just off the path at the summit | A paved trail traverses the summit and goes into a small wooded area where a cannon is located |
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| Split-rail fence at summit which flies were perching on. | Cannon & fence at summit. Another productive site for sarcophagids. |
Dodge's description of the site in 1952: Kennesaw Mountain, Cobb County, is comparable in size to Stone Mountain, but over 1,800 feet in altitude and is forested to the summit, which is a ridge about 150 feet long with sparse vegetation and rock outcroppings. Both ends of the ridge are forested.
Specimens collected: Here is a listing of the species that I
collected and the species that Dodge notes as being collected at Kennesaw
Mountain. Unfortunately, he does not list the species by site in
his paper on "Sarcophagidae and other Diptera taken by trap and net on
Georgia mountain summits in 1952", but he does note locality information
in his paper on "A new sarcophagid genus with descriptions of fifteen new
species (Diptera)".
| SPECIES | # COLLECTED | COLLECTOR |
| Brachicoma sarcophagina (Townsend) | 17 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Helicobia rapax (Walker) | 3 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Oxysarcodexia cingarus (Aldrich) | 1 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Oxysarcodexia galeata (Aldrich) | 1 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaea) africa Wiedemann | 1 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) mimoris Reinhard (?) | 1 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) paulina Hall (?) | 1 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) pleomenda Reinhard | 3 | Harold R. Dodge |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) pratti (Dodge) | 1
2 |
Harold R. Dodge
Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) sabroskyi (Dodge) | 473
17 |
Harold R. Dodge
Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) sima Aldrich | 31 | Harold R. Dodge |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) sutilis Reinhard | 213 | Harold R. Dodge |
| Sarcophaga (Bercaeopsis) sp. | 1 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Neobellieria) triplasia Wulp | 2 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Liopygia) argyrostoma (Rob.-Des.) | 2 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Sarcophaga (Liopygia) crassipalpis Macquart | 9 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
| Spirobolomyia sps. | 29 | Gregory A. Dahlem |
