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Stoneflies - Plecoptera: Leuctridae of Gunnison County, Colorado

Paraleuctra vershina - Summit Needlefly

Gaufin and Ricker 1974
Updated 27 Feb 2015
TSN 102899

Good Links

On this website:
Introduction to Leuctridae
Paraleuctra sara

Other Websites:
Photos, Map, Museum specimens, DNA - Barcodinglife.org

References

Baumann,RW; Gaufin,AR; Surdick,RF 1977 The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 31.
     Quote from page 102: " This species occurs abundantly in creeks and rivers. The adults emerge from March to August. " Illustrations on page 101; Figure 329 cercus, 330 male terminalia, dorsal view; 331 female terminalia, ventral view.

Bottorff,RL and Bottorff,LD 2007 Phenology and diversity of adult stoneflies (Plecoptera) of a small coastal stream, California. Illiesia 3(1)1-9 Pdf 292 Kb

Duffield,RM and Nelson,CH 1998 Stoneflies (Plecoptera) in the diet of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis Mitchell) in Libby Creek, Wyoming, USA. Hydrobiologia 380, 59-65.
     Although collected as adults in the streamside vegetation, Paraleuctra vershina was not found in the stomach contents of the trout living in the stream.

Gaufin,AR and Ricker,WE 1974 Additions and corrections to a list of Montana stoneflies. Entomological News 85: 285-288.

Kondratieff,BC and Baumann,RW 2002 A review of the stoneflies of Colorado with description of a new species of Capnia (Plecoptera: Capniidae). Transactions of American Entomological Society 128 3, 385-401.
     Quote from page 391: "Stark et al. (1973) reported this species as P. sara (Claassen), a species now considered restricted to eastern North America (Stark and Kyzar, 2001). Paraleuctra vershina is the most common and widespread species of the genus in Colorado, occurring throughout the Mountain and Plateau regions (Gaufin and Ricker, 1974, Baumann et al. 1977). Females can be collected as late as August at higher elevations."

Ricker,WE 1992 Origin of stonefly names proposed by Ricker and collaborators. Perla, 18(1) 12 pages. PDF
      Quote from page 8: "vershina Gaufin and Ricker 1975. Russian vershina = summit referring to the mountainous country where the species occurs."

Ruse,LP and Herrmann,SJ 2000 Plecoptera and Trichoptera species distribution related to environmental characteristics of the metal-polluted Arkansas River, Colorado. Western North American Naturalist 60 (1) 57-65. PDF

Stark,BP and Kyzar,JW 2001 Systematics of nearctic Paraleuctra with description of a new genus (Plecoptera:Leuctridae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 144 (1) 119-135. PDF
     The authors split Pomoleuctra from Paraleuctra. They provide excellent photos of the double mesoternal y-ridge stem of Paraleuctra, male terminalia of both genera and keys to Pomoleuctra and Paraleuctra adult males.

Stark,BP; Oblad,BR and Gaufin,AR 1973 An annotated list of the Stoneflies (Plecoptera) of Colorado Part I. Entomological News 84 9, 269-277.
     Discussed as Paraleuctra sara.

Brown,WS 2004 Plecoptera or Stoneflies of Gunnison County, Colorado, USA
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