Stoneflies - Plecoptera: Perlodidae of Gunnison County, Colorado Isoperla mormona
Mormon Stripetail, Yellow Sally, Western Yellow Sally(Banks, 1920)
Updated 16 January 2026
TSN 103007
Habitat
Prefers warmer, lower elevation streams on the front range and plateau country of western Colorado (Kondratieff and Baumann 2003).
Good Links
On this website:
Isoperla Introduction
Other Websites:
Photos, Map, Taxon Identifier Numbers - from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Isoperla mormona at GBIF
Photos, Map, Museum specimens, DNA - Barcodinglife.org
References
Banks,N 1920 New Neuropteroid insects. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 64: 299-362.
Described as Isoperla mormona.
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 from page 148: "This species is commonly found in creeks and rivers. The adults emerge from May to August. "
Bottorff,RL; Szczytko,SW; Knight,AW and Dimick,JJ 1990 Drumming behavior of four western Nearctic Isoperla species (Plecoptera: Perlodidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 83(5), pp.991-997.
Abstract: "The drumming behaviors of four Isoperla species from the western Nearctic region are described for the first time. All have monophasic male calls and sequenced male-female exchanges. Isoperla miwok Bottorff & Szczytko males call with a mean of 5.7 beats and 25.3-ms beat intervals. Male-female drumming extends up to six-way exchanges. Isoperla acula Jewett males call with a mean of 4.1 beats and 356.8-ms beat intervals; male-female exchanges are two-way. Male calls appear to be produced by abdominal tapping and rubbing of the substrate. Drumming in I. acula differs greatly from that of the closely related I. mormona Banks, apparently helping these sympatric species maintain reproductive isolation. Isoperla adunca Jewett males call with a mean of 6.1 beats and 137.8-ms beat intervals. Isoperla bifurcata Szczytko & Stewart males call with a mean of 6.4 beats and 47.2-ms beat intervals; male-female exchanges are two-way. Some California Isoperla have similar male calls, but drumming is species-specific for the entire male-female behavior. Considerable variability in drumming behavior exists between and within the five species complexes of western Nearctic Isoperla. As a group, Isoperla displays many derived drumming traits."
Gill,BA Kondratieff,BC and Sandberg,JB 2015 Evaluation of the morphological species concepts of 16 western Nearctic Isoperla species (Plecoptera: Perlodidae) and their respective species groups using DNA barcoding. Illiesia: International Journal of Stonefly Research, 11(11), 130-146. PDF
Quote from page 141: "The I. quinquepunctata species group (I. acula Jewett 1962, I. jewetti Szczytko and Stewart 1976, I. longiseta Banks 1906b, I. mormona, I. quinquepunctata) is either paraphyletic or polyphyletic (ambiguous). Specifically, I. acula and I. mormona may be more closely related to the other Isoperla included in this study than to I. quinquepunctata. This is consistent with the morphological observations that I. acula and I. mormona share similar aedeagal characters lacking in I. quinquepunctata (Table 1). For both I. acula and I. mormona, the apical half of the aedeagus is conical and ventrally curved with constricted tip and distinct but fine setae are present. If possible additional molecular studies of the two other species of the species group, I. longiseta and I. jewetti (but presumed extinct), should be conducted. It is likely that the species group as it is currently defined will be reconstituted as two or more groups as more information is gathered."
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 396: "This small yellow Isoperla apparently prefers warmer lower elevation streams (Knight and Gaufin, 1966) along the lower protion of the Front Range and Plateau regions of Colorado."
Needham,JG and Claassen,PW 1925 A Monograph of the Plecoptera of North America. Entomological Society of America, Lafayette, Indiana. 397 pages. PDF
Described as Isoperla marmona
Sandberg,JB 2011 Vibrational communication of Isoperla Banks from California and Oregon (Plecoptera: Perlodidae). Illiesia 2011 7(1):1-23. PDF
Sandberg,JB and Kondratieff,BC 2013 The Isoperla of California (Plecoptera: Perlodidae); Updated male descriptions and adult keys for 18 western Nearctic species. Illiesia (9)34-64. PDF
Sandberg,JB and 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 female I. mormona early response to a male drumming call. These animals were from the Uncompahgre River near Montrose, Colorado.
Szczytko,SW and Stewart,KW 1979a The genus Isoperla (Plecoptera) of western North America; holomorphology and systematics, and a new stonefly genus Cascadoperla. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 32, 1-120.
Szczytko,SW and Stewart,KW 1979c Drumming behavior of four Western Nearctic Isoperla (Plecoptera) species. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 72(6) 781-786.
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 55: "This species of Isoperla is common in the Southern Rocky Mountains (Baumann and others, 1977) but is represented by only a few records in the SPRB." The elevation range is 8,050-8,200 feet and the adults emerge from July-August.
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