time of day, and air temperature (tiger beetles are 

 very temperature sensitive: Knisley and Schlutz 

 1997). We also noted mating or nesting behavior, 

 and documented general habitat features and 

 succession class of sites where beetles were 

 encountered. 



Tiger beetle specimens were identified under a 

 dissecting microscope using the key developed by 

 Willis (1968) and descriptions in other sources, 

 such as Knisley and Schultz ( 1 997) and Leonard 

 and Bell ( 1 999). Dr. Mike Ivie verified identifica- 

 tions of voucher specimens for all species docu- 

 mented; vouchers were deposited in the Entomol- 

 ogy Museum at Montana State University. 



We sampled diurnal Lepidoptera (butterflies and 

 skippers) only on 29 and 30 July, during the peak 

 of the summer Because our survey did not focus 

 on this insect group, the sampling was brief and 

 opportunistic, and the list we generated is only 

 preliminary. No effort was made to estimate 

 relative abundance. Species were netted and 

 identified in the field using Opler ( 1 999). Notes 

 on habits and habitat were made at the time of 

 capture. Vouchers were collected and papered 

 for later examination and determination by state 

 experts Steve Kohler and Will Kerling (Missoula). 



Results 



Between late May and late September 1999 our 

 surveys documented 18 species of mammals, 29 

 species of birds, two amphibian and one reptile 

 species, four species of tiger beetles, and 14 

 species of diurnal butterflies (Appendices 7-9). 

 Most of these were found both east and west of 

 Tepee Creek, but there were some noticeable 

 differences in distribution patterns, discussed 

 below. 



Mammals 



Bats : We did not sample for bats, since the 

 sandhills offer few sites that would concentrate 

 activity, and there appears to be few suitable sites 



for roosting or raising young. However, bats 

 probably forage over the Sandhills during summer 

 Few bat species have been documented from the 

 Centennial Valley; only Little Brown Bat {Myotis 

 lucifugus) is on the refuge list. However, 

 Townsend's Big-eared bat (Plecotus 

 [-Corynorhinus] towmendii), a Montana 

 species of special concern, has also been docu- 

 mented on the reflige (Hoffinann et al. 1 969a); 2 

 specimens were collected on 25 August 1965 

 (UMZ 12776 and 12777; University of Montana 

 Philip L. Wright Vertebrate Museum). 



Shrews : We captured shrews only in pitfall traps 

 (Appendices 5 and 6) at the low rates (0.30/1 00 

 trap nights) not unusual for shrews (Kirkland et al. 

 1997). However, success in the drift arrays (0.80/ 

 1 00 trap nights) was 4 times greater than for pitfall 

 transects (0.20/ 1 00 trap nights), even though there 

 were only one fifth as many trap nights. This 

 suggests that drift arrays may be the most suitable 

 method for fiiture monitoring of shrew abundance 

 and habitat use in the Sandhills. 



We captured 25 individual shrews, including 8 

 Dusky Shrews {Sorex monticolus), 6 Masked 

 Shrews (S. cmereus), and 2 Preble's Shrews (5. 

 preblei). Nine shrews were not identifiable to 

 species (they were either Masked or Preble's) 

 because skulls were incomplete and did not have 

 enough measurable traits for reliable determina- 

 tion. However, palatal length and interorbital 

 breadth measurements (Table 2) indicate at least 

 some of the unidentified shrews were probably 

 Preble's (Hofl&nann et al. 1 969b, Hofimann and 

 Fisher 1978, Tomasi and Hoffinann 1984, Long 

 and Hoffinann 1992). 



Our collection of Preble's Shrew is new for the 

 Centennial Valley and Beaverhead County, the 

 nearest previous collection being 40 km to the 

 northeast at Quake Lake in Gallatin County 

 ( 1 968), Preble's Shrew is a species of concern in 

 Montana (Appendix 2). Our collections of Dusky 

 Shrew {Sorex monticolus) and Preble's Shrew 

 {S. preblei) are new species records for the 

 Refuge. 



