Plecoptera: Chloroperlidae of Gunnison County, ColoradoParaperla frontalis
Hyporheic Sallfly(Banks, 1902)
Updated 5 Mar 2010
TSN 103234
Description
Large for a chloroperlid. Pale and thin with eyes set very far forward. The illustration on the right is from Needham and Claassen's classic stonefly study published in 1925.
Habitat
Creeks, rivers and cold lakes. Nymphs live in the hyporheic zone or the water between the gravel and rocks in the bottom of the stream.
Life History
Dewalt and Stewart (1995) collected nymphs infrequently in winter months among marginal substrates of streams. Less than 10 adults were collected in early June during the 3 year study on the Rio Conejos river. Baumann et al (1977) note that adults can be collected from April to early August.
Locations Collected
Knight and Gaufin (1966) collected this species between 7200 and 9600 feet elevation. Kondratieff and Baumann note that this relatively common species is rarely collected unless you use a beat sheet or examine debris along streams.
Notes
The genus Paraperla was previously included in Perlinella. Older publications may refer to this species as Perlinella frontalis.
Links
Kondratieff, Boris C. and Richard W. Baumann (coordinators). 2000. Stoneflies of the United States. Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. (Version 12DEC2003).
Paraperla sp. Nymph Photo from the Tree of Life
http://tolweb.org/tree/eukaryotes/animals/arthropoda/hexapoda/plecoptera/slideshows/pleco1/sld034.htm
References
Banks,N 1902 Notes and descriptions of Perlidae. Canadian Entomologist 34:123-125.
Described as Perlinella frontalis.
Baumann,RW; Gaufin,AR; Surdick,RF 1977 The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 31, 1-208. Page 188.
Quoted from page 188: "This species is found in creeks, rivers and cold lakes. The adults emerge from April to early August."
DeWalt,RE; Stewart,KW 1995 Life histories of stoneflies (Plecoptera) in the Rio Conejos of southern Colorado. Great Basin Naturalist 55, 1-18.
Knight,AW; Gaufin,AR 1966 Altitudinal distribution of stoneflies (Plecoptera) in a Rocky Mountain drainage system. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 39 4, 668-675.
Kondratieff,BC; 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.
Quoted from pages 394-395: "This is a relatively common species, but adults, especially males, are rarely collected unless by using a beating sheet or examining streamside debris piles along Mountain and Plateau streams and rivers. Nymphs are hyporheic until near emergence."
Needham,JG; Claassen,PW 1925 A Monograph of the Plecoptera of North America. Entomological Society of America, Lafayette, Indiana. 397 pages.
Illustration at top of this webpage is from page 129.
Sandberg,JB; Stewart,KW 2003 Continued studies of drumming in North American Plecoptera; Evolutionary implications. In: Research Update on Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera. Ed: Gaino,E University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, 73-81.
Has the sonogram of a three-way duet between two males and a female P. frontalis from the San Miguel River near Placerville over in San Miguel County, Colorado.
Stanford JA; Gaufin AR. 1974 Hyporheic communities of two Montana rivers. Science 185:700-702.
The authors report P. frontalis from the hyporheic zone of the Flathead River in Montana, USA. Figure 1 is a photo of P. frontalis nymphs from the hyporheic zone of the Tobacco River. From nymph collections, they report that P. frontalis spends 2 or 3 years in the hyporheic zone growing to nearly 2cm in length before emerging as adults.
Stewart,KW; Ricker,WE 1997 The stoneflies of the Yukon. pgs 201–222 in Danks,HV and Downes,JA (Eds.), Insects of the Yukon. Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods),
Ottawa. 1034 pp.
Quote about the genus Parapela from page 213: "Western Nearctic; the 2 species occur from the Yukon to California and New Mexico. Adults are brown, 16-20 mm. They emerge March-August, depending on elevation and latitude. Nymphs occur in the hyporheal beneath and beside larger streams, and are collected in surface layers only just prior to emergence. Nymph sizes before and after emergence suggest 2-3 year, semivoltine life cycles. "
Stewart,KW; Stark,BP 2002: Nymphs of North American Stonefly Genera. 2nd edition The Caddis Press, Columbus, Ohio. 510 pages. Illustrations of nymph on pages 266-267, figures 11.11-11.12
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