» Order Plecoptera (Stoneflies)
1 family (Peltoperlidae)
isn't included.
Common Name
This is page 13 of specimens of Plecoptera. Visit the main Plecoptera page for:
- The behavior and habitat of Plecoptera.
- 6 underwater pictures of Plecoptera.
Pictures of 151 Stonefly Specimens:
Female Isoperla fusca (Yellow Sally) Stonefly Adult
View 13 PicturesThe family ID on this one was a little bit tricky. Just going by the size, shape, and color, it looks like Chloroperlidae. However, the second anal vein of the forewing is does not appear to be forked, and the apical (Apical: Close to the apex; tip or end.) maxillary palpal segment is close to the length of the penultimate segment, both of which rule out that family. The position of the cubitoanal crossvein (Crossvein: Short cross-wise veins in an insect wing which connect the long longitudinal (length-wise) veins.) relative to the anal cell in the forewing -- touching it in this case -- indicates Perlidae (and it really doesn't have the "look" of Perlidae at all), but other characteristics, such as the metathorastic sternacostal sutures and lack of gill remnants, point to Perlodidae. That's the right answer. Moving on to Perlodidae, the key characteristics in Merritt & Cummins lead straightforwarly to Isoperla, and the species key in Jewett 1959 (The Stoneflies of the Pacific Northwest) leads to Isoperla fusca.
There is one caveat: That source does suggest a May-July emergence, whereas this one was collected in mid-September. Female Pictetiella expansa Stonefly Adult
View 12 PicturesBased on photos, this specimen seems to key out (using Merritt & Cummins 4th Edition) to Pictetiella expansa, but some of the characteristics aren't 100 % clear. However, that species is listed as occurring near Puget Sound and the head markings are similar to (albeit not a perfect match for) those of a male from Colorado in the scientific literature here: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Head-and-pronotum (Pronotum: The top of the insect prothorax.)-dorsal (Dorsal: Top.)-Pictetiella-expansa-Boulder-Co-Colorado-North-Fork-Middle_fig1_315373449