Following breeding in nearby wetlands to the 

 south. Tiger Salamanders probably return to the 

 sandhills in search of underground refugja The 

 population in the upper Centennial Valley may 

 persist because of the Sandhills' proximity to 

 extensive breeding habitat nearby in the wetlands. 



Striped Chorus Frog was heard calling in many 

 wetland locations in and near the sandhills in May 

 and June, especially along Tepee Creek and from 

 the wetlands immediately south of the West Hills. 

 Two dispersing adults were recovered from drift 

 array 2 on 22 September; another two were 

 recovered at drift array 3 on the same date. 

 These individuals may have been seeking burrows 

 (Koch and Peterson 1995), as they are often 

 found far from permanent water elsewhere in 

 Montana (personal observation) and sometimes 

 breed in temporary ponds in road fracks. 



Most observations of Western Terrestrial Garter 

 Snake, in June and July, were in sandy roads in 

 both the East and West Hills. This species was 

 also observed ofi-road in the West Hills 

 (T13S,R2W,S23SW)on 1 July This widespread 

 species is often associated with wetland and 

 aquatic habitats in the Greater YeUowstone Eco- 

 system (Koch and Peterson 1995). 



Insects 



Tiger Beetles : We documented 4 tiger beetle 

 species in the Centennial Sandhills in 1 999: 

 Cicindela decemnotata, C. formosa, C. 

 longilabris, and C. tmnquebarica (Appendix 9). 

 We had hoped to find the globally rare Idaho 

 Dunes Tiger Beetle (C arenicold), but did not. 

 The Centennial Mountains are a formidable barrier 

 between the Centennial Sandhills and the nearest 

 population of this Idaho endemic, in the St. 

 Anthony Dunes of Fremont County (Rumpp 

 1967, Logan 1995). Nevertheless, fiirther 

 searching would be worthwhile, and might also 

 yield other species of tiger beetle new to the 

 Centennial Sandhills fauna 



Transect counts (Table 4) and pitfall data show 

 that Cicindela formosa was the most abundant 



tiger beetle in the West Hills, and C. decemnotata 

 was the most abundant species in the East Hills. 

 Both species were especially prevalent in sandy 

 sites with sparse vegetation cover (early-seral 

 vegetation in erosion and deposition sites). Our 

 data support the observation of Lesica and 

 Cooper (1999) that C. formosa is mostly con- 

 fined to this kind of habitat. It was captured in pit 

 fall traps on pitfall lines 1,2, and 3, and at drift 

 array 1 , all in the West Hills. C. decemnotata 

 was captured in on pitfall line 5 and at drift array 

 3, both in the East Hills. However, both species 

 occurred outside their areas of concentration. We 

 counted a few C. formosa on road fransects in 

 the East Hills (Table 4) but never saw or captured 

 them there off of the road. During a 25 May 

 fraverse of the West Hills (T13S,R2W,S22 and 

 S23) we noted 2 C. decemnotata among about 

 160 C. formosa in 14 blowouts and deposition 

 sites. 



Cicindela tranquebarica, was seen almost 

 exclusively on the road near Tepee Creek (Table 

 4), where the water table was probably near the 

 ground surface and the sand sometimes slightly 

 damp. This was the only tiger beetle known to 

 occur with the Idaho Dunes Tiger Beetle at some 

 sites (Rumpp 1967, Logan 1995) and tends to be 

 a habitat generalist (Pearson et al. 1997, Leonard 

 and Bell 1999). C longilabris was seen only in 

 the East Hills (T13S,R1 W,S35SWSW), twice on 

 27 May in the presence of C decemnotata on a 

 sandy game frail in mid-seral habitat. C 

 longilabris is less associated with sandy habitats 

 and more often found in forested or alpine sites 

 (Pearson et al. 1 997, Leonard and Bell 1 999). 



We saw all tiger beetle species, with the exception 

 of Cicindela longilabris, throughout the summer 

 from late May to late September, though all were 

 more abundant between late May and early July. 

 All species, again with the exception oi Cicindela 

 longilabris, were observed copulating between 

 27 May and 1 July. 



The presence of C. formosa in the Centennial 

 Sandhills is noteworthy. This location is well 



14 



