Introduction to the Perlodidae of Gunnison County, Colorado

Stoneflies - Plecoptera: Perlodidae of Gunnison County, Colorado

Introduction to the Perlodid Stoneflies

Klapálek, 1909

Updated 15 January 2026
TSN 102994

Provisional Species List

Good Links

Arcynopteryx compacta

Other Websites:
Photos, Map, Taxon Identifier Numbers - from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility Perlodidae at GBIF

Photos, Map, Museums, DNA - Barcode of Life Data System

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 from page 118: "The family Perlodidae is mainly characterized by short glossae on the labium which are reduced to small knobs fused to the sides of the paraglossae (fig. 2). The pointed paraglossae and the abscence of branched thoracic gills distinguish the Perlodidae from the family Perlidae. The family differs from the Chloroperlidae in the more depressed shape of the nymph (figs 16,17) and the state of the second anal vein of the forewing; its branches leaving the anal cell separately instead of together.
Three structural features of ancient origin, including the gills, the epiproct and a profusion of crossveins in the apical portion of the wing, have been retained by the more primative Perlodidae and lost in the more derived representatives. Although gradations in the character states appear within both subfamilies the Isoperlinae are generally considered more advanced than the Perlodinae."

Klapálek 1909 In Klapálek and Grunberg. Hft. 8. Ephemerida, Plecoptera, Lepidoptera. In Brauer, A. Die Süsswasserfauna Deutschlands. Eine Exkursionsfauna 39.
First description of the Perlodidae stonefly family.

Sandberg,JB and Stewart,KW 2005 Life History of the stonefly Isogenoides zionensis (Plecoptera: Perlodidae) from the San Miguel River, Colorado. Illiesia 1(4)21-32.     http://www2.pms-lj.si/illiesia/Illiesia01-04.pdf
     Quote from the introduction: "The Perlodidae is a large and important family of stoneflies in North American stream ecosystems. It contains 30 genera and 122 species in the two subfamiles Isoperlinae and Perlodinae, and is unique taxonomically, from the perspective that half of its genera are monospecific. In terms of species numbers, the Isoperlinae genus Isoperla has experienced the greatest radiation, with well more than 60 Neararctic species (Stark 2001, S.W. Szczytko, personal communication), and Isogenoides is the largest Nearctic Perlodinae genus with eight currently recognized species (revision by J.B. Sandburg and K.W. Stewart In Preparation)."

Stewart,KW and Stark,BP 1984 Nymphs of North American Perlodinae genera (Plecoptera: Perlodidae). The Great Basin Naturalist, pp.373-415. PDF
     Abstract: "Nymphs of the type or other representative species of the 22 North American Perlodinae genera are comparatively described and illustrated for the first time. The first complete generic key for the subfamily incorporates recent nymph discoveries and revisions in classification. References to all previous nymph descriptions and illustrations and major life cycle and food habits studies are given for the 53 North American species in the subfamily, and a listing of species and their current distributions by states and provinces is provided for each genus. The previously unknown nymph of Chernokrilus misnomus is described and illustrated."

Stewart,KW and Zeigler,DD 1984 Drumming behavior of twelve North American stonefly (Plecoptera) species: First descriptions in Peltoperlidae, Taeniopterygidae and Chloroperlidae. Aquatic Insects. 6(1) 49 - 61.
     Abstract: "Previously unreported drumming signals of 11 species in the families Peltoperlidae, Taeniopterygidae, Capniidae, Perlodidae and Chloroperlidae are described, and signals of a 12th species, Isogenoides zionensis, are further described. Drumming in four Soliperla species was of two basic types; the diphasic male calls and long first-phase beat intervals of S. fenderi were in marked contrast to monophasic call and shorter beat intervals of other males. Females of three Soliperla would drum without a male call. The Taeniopteryx nivalis signals were generally similar to two other known Taeniopteryx in: (1) monophasic nature of the male call, and (2) number of beats in the male call, female answer and male response. Beat intervals were distinctly different from other species at comparable temperatures. Calliperla luctuosa male calls were arranged in a series of one- or two-beat groupings, a pattern basically similar to several other Perlodidae. Drumming of Isogenoides zionensis is the most complex known in the Plecoptera. Male-female exchanges began as interspersed signals, then changed to sequenced 3-way signals. During the interspersed portion male calls consisted of 11 beats in 3-4 groupings, within which the female answer was spaced. Both chloroperlids, Kathroperla perdita and Paraperla frontalis, had di-phasic male calls, with 6.1 ± 0.7 and 74 ± 10.6 beats, respectively, in the first phases, and with distinctly different beat intervals. Males of other species analyzed included Isocapnia grandis, Helopicus nalatus and Isogenoides elongatus."

Tronstad,LM; Hotaling,S; Giersch,JJ; Wilmot,OJ and Finn,DS 2020 Headwaters fed by subterranean ice: potential climate refugia for mountain stream communities?. BioRxiv, p.788273.

Brown,WS 2005 Plecoptera or Stoneflies of Gunnison County, Colorado, USA
www.gunnisoninsects.org
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