Stoneflies - Plecoptera: Capniidae of Gunnison County, ColoradoCapnia vernalis
Belly Snowfly, Little Black Stone, Black Hares EarNewport 1848
Updated 3 January 2026
TSN 102696
Good Links
On this website:
Capniidae Introduction
Capnia Introduction
Other Websites:
Photos, Map, Taxon Identifier Numbers - from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Capnia vernalis at Gbif
Photos, Map, Museum specimens, DNA - Barcodinglife.org
References
Baumann,RW 1973 Studies on Utah stoneflies (Plecoptera) Western North American Naturalist 33(2) 91-108. PDF
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 76: "This species can be abundant in large somewhat warmer rivers. The adults emerge from February to early April. "
Harper,PP and Hynes,HBN 1971 The Capniidae of eastern Canada (Insecta; Plecoptera). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 49(6), pp.921-940. 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.
Quote from page 389: " Previously reported as C. limata Frison by Stark et al. (1973) and synonymized with C. vernalis by Baumann (1973) and recorded by Zwick (1973). This is a common species of lower elevation, larger, warmer, silty atreams and rivers, especially of the Plateau region of western Colorado."
Needham,JG and Claassen,PW 1925 A Monograph of the Plecoptera of North America. Entomological Society of America, Lafayette, Indiana. 397 pages. PDF
Nelson,RC and Baumann,RW 1989 Systematics and distribution of the winter stonefly genus Capnia (Plecoptera: Capniidae) in North America. Great Basin Naturalist 49, 289-363. PDF
Newport,G 1848 On the anatomy and affinities of Pteronarcys regalis Newman; with a postscript containing descriptions of some American Perlidae, together with notes on their habits. Transactions Linnean Society of London 20: 425-452.
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.
Mentioned as Capnia limata.
Stewart,KW and Stark,BP 2002 Nymphs of North American Stonefly Genera. 2nd edition The Caddis Press, Columbus, Ohio. 510 pages.
Illustrations of nymph on pages 123-124, figures 7.5-7.6
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 40: "This winter stonefly typically is associated with large, lower elevation streams that often are silty. This species may have been more common in the larger tributaries of the South Platte River near the mountain plains interface and probably has been extirpated from the main stem South Platte River at Littleton, Colorado, where it was reported in 1943. It is still common in the Colorado River in Western Colorado." The elevation range is 5,300-6,400 feet and the adults emerged in February.
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