Stoneflies - Plecoptera: Chloroperlidae of Gunnison County, Colorado
Alloperla pilosa - Hairy Sallfly Needham and Claassen 1925
Updated 4 January 2026
TSN 103229
Description
Adults are bright green, this is the only Alloperla with an abdominal stripe.
Habitat
>3040 meters elevation snowmelt streams
Life History
Adults emerge in June and July
Notes
Endemic to Colorado
Good Links
On this website:
Key to Alloperla females
Key to Alloperla males
Comparison of the two local species of Alloperla
Alloperla severa
Other Websites:
Photos, Map, Taxon Identifier Numbers - from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Alloperla pilosa at Gbif
Photos, Map, Museum specimens, DNA - Barcodinglife.org
Photos and more from Troutnut
References
Baumann,RW, Gaufin,AR and Surdick,RF 1977 The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 31, 1-208. PDF
Quote: " Discussion.- This species has been collected only in the Colorado Rockies. It occurs in small creeks at high elevations. The adults emerge in June and July." Figure 506 male terminalia dorsal view and Figure 507 male terminalia lateral view on page 177.
Baumann,RW and Kondratieff,BC 2008 A review of Alloperla severa complex (Plecoptera: Chloroperlidae) from Western North America, with a description of a new species: Illiesia, v. 4, p. 66-75. PDF
Finn,DS and Poff,NL 2008 Emergence and flight activity of alpine stream insects in two years with contrasting winter snowpack. Artic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 40(4)638-646. PDF
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.
"This unusual Alloperla is only known from small subalpine and alpine (>3,040 m elevation) streams of Colorado (Lyon and Stark 1997). These streams are fed primarily by snowmelt."
Lyon,ML and Stark,BP 1997 Alloperla (Plecoptera: Chloroperlidae) of western North America. Entomological News 108 5, 321-334.
Needham,JG and Claassen,PW 1925 A Monograph of the Plecoptera of North America. Entomological Society of America, Lafayette, Indiana. 397 pages. PDF
Described on page 124.
Nelson,CH and Hanson,JF 1968 Two New Species of Alloperla (Plecoptera: Chloroperlidae) from China. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society (41)4 425-428.
Abstract: "Two new species, Alloperla (Sweltsa) thompsoni and Alloperla (Sweltsa) alexanderi both from China, are described and their relationship to North American members of the subgenus Sweltsa is discussed."
Quote from page 428: "Both species described above appear closely related to each other and to the following North American species of Sweltsa: fraterna Frison, nanina Banks, and pilosa Needham and Claassen. This relationship is indicated by the succeeding two features of the male terminalia; (1) the absebce of a tranverse elevated ridge on the ninth abdominal tergite; (2) the shortness of the apical piece of the supra-anal process. These species can be readily distinguished from each other in the male sex by the differences shown in the figures of the apical piece of the supra-anal process."
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 42: "Adults of this uncommonly reported stonefly are lime green with a distinctive black dorsal abdominal stripe. Alloperla pilosa appears to be restricted to high-elevation headwater streams of the Southern Rocky Mountains (Baumann and Kondratieff, 2008a). Stark and others (1973) also reported this species in Colorado from Boulder County, Larimer County at Cameron Pass, and Clear Creek County east of Berthoud Pass." The elevation range is 8,850-11,250 feet and the adults emerge from July-September.
epiproct |
subgenital plate |
|