Description of the Female of Capnia arapahoe (Plecoptera: Capniidae) Author(s): Brian D. Heinold and Boris C. Kondratieff Source: Entomological News, 121(3):281-283. Published By: The American Entomological Society DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3157/021.121.0309 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3157/021.121.0309 BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses. Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use. Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder. BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions, research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research. Volume 121, Number 3, May and June 2010 281 DESCRIPTION OF THE FEMALE OF CAPNIA ARAPAHOE (PLECOPTERA: CAPNIIDAE)1 Brian D. Heinold2 and Boris C. Kondratieff2 ABSTRACT: The previously unknown female of the rare Arapahoe Snowfly, Capnia arapahoe, is described and illustrated for the first time from two specimens collected from the Front Range of Colorado. The female terminalia is unique among sympatric species of Capnia and is compared to similar species. KEY WORDS: Plecoptera, Capniidae, Capnia arapahoe, Colorado, snowfly The Arapahoe Snowfly, Capnia arapahoe Nelson and Kondratieff, was previously known from two adult males collected in 1986 and 1987 from two small tributaries of the Cache la Poudre River in Larimer County, Colorado (Nelson and Kondratieff 1988). Capnia arapahoe was included in the C. decepta group by these authors. Other Nearctic species included in this group in addition to C. arapahoe are C. coyote Nelson and Baumann (CA), C. decepta (Banks) (AZ, BJ, CO, MX, NM), C. pileata Jewett (BC, CA), C. sequoia Nelson and Baumann (CA), C. teresa Claassen (CA), C. tumida Claassen (CA, OR), and C. utahensis Gaufin and Jewett (CA, NV, UT) (Nelson and Baumann 1989, Stark et al., 2009). Adult males in this group are characterized by an expanded epiproct with a neck and tip, bulb, and possess a dorsal tubercle on abdominal segment 7; females typically have a darkly sclerotized subgenital plate approximately 2/5 the width of sternum 8. Ten males and two females were recently collected from the male type locality of Elkhorn Creek at the junction of Highway 14, 35.2 km (22 miles) west of Fort Collins. The following female description is based on two associated females. Capnia arapahoe Nelson and Kondratieff Adult female (in alcohol). – Body length 7-8 mm (Fig. 1), forewings 7-8 mm, hindwings 6 mm. Subgenital plate nearly rectangular and darkly sclerotized, approximately 4/5 width of sternum 8 (Fig. 1), posterior margin almost straight with small sclerotized lateral projections nearly touching pleural membranes Material examined. – Allotype, female, Larimer Co., Colorado, Elkhorn Creek at junction of Highway 14, 22 miles west of Fort Collins, 2012 m (6600'), 6 March 2009, B. D. Heinold, same location, 17 March 2009, B. D. Heinold, A. C. Lewis, 1 female. Deposited in the C. P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. ______________________________ 1 Received on April 10, 2009. Accepted on June 7, 2009. 2 Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523. E-mail bheinold@colostate.edu Mailed on September 28, 2011 282 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS Fig. 1. Capnia arapahoe, female terminalia, ventral view. Additional material collected. – Colorado, Larimer County, Elkhorn Creek at junction of Highway 14, 22 miles west of Fort Collins, 2012 m (6600'), 6 March 2009, B. D. Heinold, 4 %, same location, 17 March 2009, B. D. Heinold, A. C. Lewis, same location, 20 March 2009, 3 %; B. D. Heinold, R. S. Durfee, B. C. Kondratieff, 3 %. Deposited in the C. P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity, Colorado State University, Fort Collins and Monte L. Bean Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. DISCUSSION The female of C. arapahoe is distinguished from the only sympatric Decepta group species, C. decepta, by a subgenital plate that is approximately 4/5 the width, rather than 2/5 the width of sternum 8 (see Nelson and Baumann 1989, fig. 218). The only other Decepta group species with a subgenital plate wider than 2/5 of sternum 8, C. teresa (known only from California), has a subgenital plate approximately 1/2 the length of sternum 8 with a distinctly bilobed posterior margin (see Nelson and Baumann 1989, fig. 249). The subgenital plate of C. arapahoe resembles that of C. mono (known only from California) in the Barberi group (see Nelson and Baumann 1989, fig. 232). However, C. barberi is easily distinguished from C. arapahoe by the paler sternum 7. Capnia arapahoe is apparently highly restricted in distribution, known from only two small tributaries of the Cache la Poudre River in northern Colorado. Volume 121, Number 3, May and June 2010 283 These recent collections provide the only other specimens available besides the original type material. Capnia arapahoe is considered a Species of Greatest Conservation Need by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. It was included in a 2007 petition for listing as threatened or endangered with critical habitat to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Mazzacano 2008, USFWS 2009). Additional specimens and locations will help elucidate distribution and life history of C. arapahoe. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Lori Discoe, Fort Collins, Colorado for the illustrations. Thanks are due to Richard Durfee for providing additional specimens. Encouragement from Dr. Robert Zuellig, USGS, is greatly appreciated. LITERATURE CITED Mazzacano, C. 2008. Profile of Capnia arapahoe Nelson and Kondratieff (Plecoptera: Capniidae). Retrieved on 4 April 2009 from http://www.xerces.org/arapahoe-snowfly/ Nelson, C. R. and B. C. Kondratieff. 1988. A new species of Capnia (Plecoptera: Capniidae) from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Entomological News. 99: 77-80. Nelson, C. R. and R. W. Baumann. 1989. Systematics and distribution of the winter stonefly genus Capnia (Plecoptera: Capniidae) in North America. The Great Basin Naturalist. 49: 289-363. Stark, B. P., R. W. Baumann, and R. E. DeWalt. 2009. Valid stonefly names for North America. Retrieved on 3 April 2009 from http://plsa.inhs.uiuc.edu/plecoptera/default.aspx. USFWS (United States Fish and Wildlife Service). 2009. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Partial 90-Day Finding on a Petition To List 206 Species in the Midwest and Western United States as Threatened or Endangered With Critical Habitat. Federal Register (74):23 pp. 6122-6128. DOCID:fr05fe09-6. http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-2358.htm Retrieved on 4 April 2009.