Ephemeroptera: Leptophlebiidae of Gunnison County, ColoradoChoroterpes inornataEaton, 1892Updated 2 January 2026
TSN 101115 Good LinksOn this website:Choroterpes introduction Other Websites: Photos, Map, Taxon Identifier Numbers - from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Choroterpes inornata at Gbif Photos, Map, Museums, DNA - Barcode of Life Data System ReferencesAllen,RK and Murvosh,CM 1987 Leptophlebiidae of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico (Insecta: Ephemeroptera). Great Basin Naturalist 47(2): 283-286. PDFAllen,RK and Murvosh,CM 1983 Taxonomy and zoogeography of the mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Insecta) of Baja California. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 76(3) 425-433. PDF Quote from page 429: "This species has a moderately wide latitudinal distribution in western North America as it is known from southern Colorado (36° 16´ north latitude) in the Middle North Temperate Zone to northern Baja California Sur (26° 00´ north latitude) near the upper limits of the Lower North Temerate Zone (Fig 14). " Baumgardner,DE and Bowles,DE 2005 Preliminary survey of the mayflies (Ephemeroptera) and caddisflies (Trichoptera) of Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park. Journal of Insect Science, 5(1), p.28. PDF Eaton,AE 1892 Fam. Ephemeridae. Biologica Centrali-Americana 38: 1-16. Rev. Eaton describes the species Choroterpes ornata for the first time in this paper.  
 Kilgore,JL and Allen,RK 1973 Mayflies of the Southwest: new species, descriptions, and records (Ephemeroptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 66(2): 321-332. PDF Describes the larvae of C. inornata, among other things. Kluge,NJ 2012 Contribution to the knowledge of Choroterpes (Ephemeroptera, Leptophlebiidae). Russian Entomological Journal, 21(3) 273-306. PDF McCafferty WP and MacDonald,JF 1994 New records of Ephemeroptera in Utah, with notes on biogeography. Entomological News 105(4):217-221. PDF Abstract: "Two species of mayflies, Baetis flavistriga (family Baetidae) and Choroterpes inornata (family Leptophlebiidae) are reported from Utah for the first time. Records are from Capitol Reef National Park and represent known range limits for these species. Evidently neither species has penetrated the Great Basin proper. Notes on distribution, aquatic habitat, and life history of both species are provided." Quote from page 219: "Choroterpes inornata Eaton New records. Three larvae, Utah, Wayne Co., Capitol Reef National Park, downstream from Sleeping Rainbow Ranch, VIII-5-1993, J. F. MacDonald deposited in PERC. Allen (1974) provided a range map of this southwestern species, which included records from Sonora, Mexico, southeastern Arizona, western and northern New Mexico, and southern Colorado. McCafferty et al. (1993) confirmed its existence in much of western and northwestern Colorado. Mesa Co., Colorado, on the Utah border, is the nearest record to the Utah site. Capitol Reef may be near the westernmost distribution north of Arizona. As is the case for B. flavistriga (see discussion above), we hypothesize that C. inornata has not colonized the Great Basin proper. McCafferty et al. (1993) considered C. inornata among species they called the western sand/silt riverine fauna. This faunal group includes western slope/plateau species in Colorado (see McCafferty et al . 1993) that range from Mexico, Arizona, or New Mexico usually to southwestern Wyoming, and sometimes as far north as Saskatchewan. Their dispersal evidently has been via sand/silt bottomed rivers of the Colorado River drainage and the Colorado Plateau such as the Green River and its tributaries in Utah and Wyoming. Edmunds (pers. comm.) has unreported sightings of C. inornata in other Colorado drainage system areas in northeastern Utah. These sightings would be predictable if the above conclusions regarding the distribution of this species are correct." McCafferty,WP; Durfee,RS and Kondratieff,BC 1993 Colorado mayflies (Ephemeroptera): an annotated inventory. Southwestern Naturalist 38 3, 252-274. PDF Quote from page 262: "Colorado is evidently the northernmost location of this species, which was originally described from Mexico (Eaton, 1892). Allen (1974) showed C. inornata as occurring in southern Colorado on a range map, but provided no specific information. Larvae reported from La Plata Co. by Peters and Edmunds (1961) are probably attributable to this species." McCafferty,WP and Provonsha,AV The Mayflies of North America Species List (Version 8Feb2011) Here is the geographic range and synonyms: Choroterpes inornata Eaton, 1892 [MEX:SW;USA:NW,SW]
* Choroterpes oaxacaensis Brusca & Allen, 1973 (syn.)
Zuellig,RE; Heinold,BD; Kondratieff,BC and Ruiter,DE 2012 Diversity and Distribution of Mayflies (Ephemeroptera), Stoneflies (Plecoptera), and Caddisflies (Trichoptera) of the South Platte River Basin, Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming, 1873-2010. U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 606, 257 p. PDF - caution 46MB Quote from page 35: "This species is considered to reach its northern part of its range limit in Colorado and generally is associated with cool mountain streams (Allen and Murvosh, 1987; McCafferty and others, 1993; Baumgardner and others, 1997; Baumgardner and Bowles, 2005)." The elevation range is 4,900-8,550 feet and the adults emerge from August-September. |