Stoneflies - Plecoptera: Leuctridae of Gunnison County, ColoradoIntroduction to the Rolled-wing StonefliesNeedle Flies, Tiny Late Winter Black Stonefly, Tiny Winter Blacks, Winter StonefliesKlapálek, 1905 Updated 10 January 2026
TSN 102840 Provisional Species ListParaleuctra vershinaPerlomyia utahensis Good LinksOn this website:Despaxia augusta Paraleuctra projecta Pomoleuctra purcellana Other Websites: Photos, Map, Taxon Identifier Numbers - from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility at GBIF Photos, Map, Museums, DNA - Barcode of Life Data System Photos - From BugGuide http://bugguide.net/node/view/114 ReferencesBaumann,RW, Gaufin,AR and Surdick,RF 1977 The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 31, 1-208. PDFQuote from page 94: "This family [Leuctridae] is represented in the Rocky Mountains by five [They discuss 4 genera, but Pomoleuctra has been split out since this publication] genera in two subfamilies. The adults are ususally small and dark grey or black in color. The wings are uniformly dark in color and they tend to curl laterally producing a slightly rolled appearance. The adult cerci are composed of single segment in both males and females. (figs 306, 328). The nymphs are lightly colored and the wing pads are parallel with the body axis. They are similar to the nymphs of the Capniidae but are usually much more elongate. The adults emerge in the spring or summer and a few species as late as early fall. They are often found in springs and the genus Perlomyia seems to be limited to springs and spring fed habitats." Quote about the genus Paraleuctra from page 96: "Paraleuctra exhibits a holarctic distribution pattern and can be common in Rocky Mountain streams. The males have heavily sclerotized cerci that terminate in a fork-like apex (figs. 306, 307). Females are difficult to separate because of their simple bilobed subgenital plate (fig. 311). Two species groups are apparent: the P. sara group, characterized by a simple elongate titillator and the P. occidentalis group, that has a titillator with an enlarged variable apex. The adults emerge in the spring and summer months and are most common in waters influenced by springs. " Briers,RA; Cariss,HM; Geoghegan,R and Gee,JHR 2005 The lateral extent of the subsidy from an upland stream to riparian lycosid spiders. Ecography 28(2): 165-170.Abstract Caruso,C and Wichard,W 2010 Overview and descriptions of fossil stoneflies (Plecoptera) in Baltic Amber. Entomologie Heute, (22) 85-97. PDF Abstract: "Three new fossil species of stoneflies (Plecoptera: Nemouridae and Leuctridae) from Eocene Baltic amber are being described: Zealeuctra cornuta n. sp., Lednia zilli n. sp., and Podmosta attenuata n. sp.. Extant species of these three genera are found in Eastern Asia and in the Nearctic region. It is very probably that the genera must have been widely spread across the northern hemisphere in the Cretaceous period, before Europe was an archipelago in Eocene. The current state of knowledge about the seventeen Plecoptera species of Baltic amber is shortly presented. Due to discovered homonymies, the following nomenclatural corrections are proposed: Leuctra fusca Pictet, 1856 in Leuctra electrofusca Caruso & Wichard, 2010 and Nemoura affinis Berendt, 1856 in Nemoura electroaffinis Caruso & Wichard, 2010." Caruso,C and Wichard,W 2011 Paleogeographic Distribution of Leuctridae and Nemouridae genera preserved in Baltic amber, with the description of Palaeopsole weiterschani n. gen., n. sp.(Plecoptera). Entomologie heute, 23, pp.69-77. Abstract: " The description of the new fossil species Palaeopsole weiterschani n. gen., n. sp. adds the genus Palaeopsole to the extant six genera of the families Leuctridae and Nemouridae, which have been found in Eocene Baltic amber. These Eocene fossils are the oldest representatives of their extant genera, so far. But the Eocene European archipelago is neither place nor time in which these genera originated. The origin of these seven genera is unknown, but took very probably place in the northern hemisphere before the Eocene. After Laurasia had finally broken apart at early Jurassic, probably not till then the genera developed and spread out across the warm-temperate and subtropical northern hemisphere. The extant Nearctic genera - Lednia, Megaleuctra, and Zealeuctra, including the transberingian Podmosta, and including Leuctra and Nemoura which are nearly distributed all over the Holarctic region - spread probably across the northern hemisphere via the temporary Beringian and Turgai Strait land bridges at Cretaceous. Towards the end of Eocene the temperature decreased worldwide and forced the Nearctic and Holarctic genera to adapt to temperate and boreal climates, whereas the recent relatives of genus Palaeopsole, probably genus Rhopalopsole, continued and live in the subtropical area of the Oriental region and Southeast Asia." Chen,ZT 2025 Three new stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) from Eocene Baltic amber. European journal of taxonomy, 1026, pp.107-122. PDF Abstract: "Three new stonefly species are described and illustrated from Eocene Baltic amber found in Lithuania: †Palaeopsole spinosa sp. nov. (family Leuctridae Klapálek, 1905), †Podmosta biloba sp. nov. (family Nemouridae Newman, 1853), and †Isoperla lituana sp. nov. (family Perlodidae Klapálek, 1909). The generic diagnosis of †Palaeopsole Caruso & Wichard, 2011 is also emended. These new fossils enhance the understanding of the extinct Plecoptera fauna in Baltic amber." Cummins,KW; Wilzbach,MA; Gates,DM; Perry,JB and Taliaferro,WB 1989 Shredders and riparian vegetation. BioScience, 39(1), pp.24-30. PDF Klapálek,F 1905 Conspectus Plecopterorum Bohemiae. Casopis Ceskoslovenské Spolecnosti Entomologické 2: 27-32. Describes the Stonefly family Leuctridae for the first time. 
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. Pennack,RW and Ward,JV 1986 Interstital faunal communities of the hyporheic and adjacent groundwater biotopes of a Colorado mountain stream. Archiv für Hydrobiologie Suppl. 74(3) 356-396. Ricker,WE and Ross,HH 1969 The genus Zealeuctra and its position in the family Leuctridae (Plecoptera: Leuctridae). Canad. J. Zool. 47: 1113-1127. Shepard,WD and Baumann,RW 1995 Calileuctra, a new genus, and two new species of stoneflies from California (Plecoptera: Leuctridae). Great Basin Natur. 55: 124-133. Stark,BP; Kyzar,JW 2000 Systematics of nearctic Paraleuctra with description of a new genus (Plecoptera: Leuctridae). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 144 1, 119-135. PDF Has keys to nearctic adults of the stonefly family Leuctridae with their newly described genus Pomoleuctra as well as key to Paraleuctra and Pomoleuctra adult males. Stark,BP; Szczytko,SW; Baumann,RW 1986 North American stoneflies (Plecoptera): systematics, distribution, and taxonomic references. Great Basin Naturalist 46, 383-397. Stewart,KW and Stark,BP 2002 Nymphs of North American Stonefly Genera. 2nd edition The Caddis Press, Columbus, Ohio. 510 pages. Zwick,P 2006 New family characters of larval Plecoptera, with an analysis of the Chloroperlidae: Paraperlinae. Aquatic Insects, 28:13-22. Abstract: " Larval structures diagnostic of several Plecoptera families, subfamilies or genera are described and illustrated. They concern the following: distinction of larval Leuctridae from Capniidae; an additional apomorphy of Nemouridae; a synapomorphy of Perlidae and Perlodidae; monophyly of each of the two subfamilies of Chloroperlidae, and the generic limits among Chloroperlidae: Paraperlinae. Paraperla lepnevae Zhiltzova is transferred to Utaperla. Some comments on Notonemouridae are included." |