Stoneflies - Plecoptera: Pteronarcyidae of Gunnison County, ColoradoPteronarcella badia Least Salmonfly(Hagen) 1874Updated 2 Dec 2011
TSN 102486 
HabitatSlow areas of streams and rivers in debris such as leaf packs.Life HistoryP. badia has one generation per year (univoltine) with peak emergence in late June in the Gunnison River at Lost Canyon Resort (Fuller and Stewart 1977). Fuller and Stewart noted P. badia had a diet high in detritus, with large quantities of moss in the winter and spring months. Small nymphs appeared in September and fed primarily on detritus. The desmid Cosmarium was abundant in the river and guts in September and October. Diatoms were 11 and 15% of nymphs diet in September and October respectively. It appears P. badia uses conditioned fall leaf debris in the fall thru winter and eats more mosses right before emergence. Richardson and Gaufin 1971 noted this species is primarily herbivorous. P. badia ate higher plant and mosses in the Lake Fork of the Gunnison. Diatoms were also found in the guts. Specimens collected in the spring ate mostly Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera, some ate Chironomids. They change diets when plant material is unavailable. P. badia distributions overlap with Pteronarcys californica and their diets are similar, however P. californica is more omnivorous.Locations CollectedLake Fork of the Gunnison, Gunnison River at the Lost Canyon Resort, Cement Creek, Agate Creek, Sapinero CreekNotesOlder publications may refer to this species as Pteronarcys badia.Good LinksMap - Kondratieff, Boris C. and Richard W. Baumann (coordinators). 2000. Stoneflies of the United States. Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. (Version 12DEC2003). http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/insects/sfly/usa/543.htmhttp://tolweb.org/tree/eukaryotes/animals/arthropoda/hexapoda/plecoptera/slideshows/pleco2/sld023.htm PAN Pesticides database: http://www.pesticideinfo.org/List_AquireAll.jsp?Species=79∓Effect= Unfortunately, P. badia finds most of the pesticides reviewed on this site "highly toxic". ReferencesAbbott, J.C. & K.W. Stewart 1993. Male search behavior of the stonefly, Pteronarcella badia (Hagen) (Plecoptera: Pteronarcyidae), in relation to drumming. Journal of Insect Behavior 6:467- 81 Pdf file (618Kb)Baumann, RW Gaufin, AR, Surdick, RF 1977 The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 31, 1-208. Branham,JM and Hathaway,RR 1975 Sexual differences in the growth of Pteronarcys californica Newport and Pteronarcella badia (Hagen) (Plecoptera). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 1975, 53:(5) 501-506. Clubb,RW; Gaufin,AR and Lords,JL 1974 Acute cadmium toxicity studies upon nine species of aquatic insects. Environmental Research 9(3) 332-341. Abstract: Continuous-flow bioassays were employed to determine 96-hour median tolerance limits (TLm), for the stonefly, Pteronarcella badia (Hagen) (TLm was 18.0 mg Cd/l) and the mayfly, Ephemerella grandis grandis Eaton (TLm was 28.0 mg Cd/l). Ninety-six hours TLm values for other species of aquatic insects tested were not determined, since these species were relatively insensitive to cadmium. Insects exposed for four days in cadmium-containing water, then placed in tap water, show a linear rate of cadmium loss. This loss may lower or prevent mortality under ideal conditions. Colburn,T 1982 Measurement of low levels of molybdenum in the environment by using aquatic insects. 29, 422-428. Fuller,RL; Stewart,K,W 1977 The food habits of stoneflies (Plecoptera) in the Upper Gunnison River, Colorado. Environmental Entomology 6, 293-302. Fuller,RL and Stewart,KW 1979 Stonefly (Plecoptera) Food habits and prey preference in the Dolores River, Colorado. American Midland Naturalist, 101(1) 170-181. First page Gaufin,AR and Hern,S 1971 Laboratory studies on tolerance of aquatic insects to heated waters. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 44:240-245. PDF Abstract: "The mature larvae of fifteen species of aquatic insects (Diptera, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) and the scud (Amphipoda) were tested to determine their relative sensitivity to heated waters under laboratory conditions. The temperature at which 50% died after 96 hours (TLm96) was recorded as the lethal temperature. This ranged from 11.7 C for the torrential stream mayfly, Cinygmula par Baton, to 32.6 C for the snipefly, Atherix variegata Walker. " The TLm96 for P. badia was 24.4°C. Hagen, HA, 1874 Report on the Pseudo-neuroptera and Neuroptera collected by Lieut. W.L. Carpenter in 1873 in Colorado. Annual Report of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Teritories, embracing Colorado, 7: 571-577. Original description of this animal. 
Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) accessed 15 Jan 2010 http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/
Kiffney,PM 1996 Main and interactive effects of invertebrate density, predation, and metals on a Rocky Mountain stream macroinvertebrate community. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 53(7): 1595–1601 . Kiffney,PM; Clements,WH 1993 Bioaccumulation of heavy metals by benthic invertebrates at the Arkansas River, Colorado. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 12, 1507-1517. Quote from page 1512: "Variation among taxa: Metal concentrations in organisms collected from station AR-5 [impacted by heavy metal pollution from California Gulch] (fall, spring, summer) varied significantly among taxa (Fig 7). The highest concentrations were generally found in the mayfly Baetis spp., the stonefly Pteronarcella badia, and the caddisfly Arctopsyche grandis, whereas the lowest levels were measured in the two predators, Skwala americana, and Rhyacophila spp." Kiffney,PM; Clements,WH 1996 Size-dependent response of macroinvertebrates to metals in experimental streams. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 15(8)1352-1356. Abstract: "Our previous research has shown that the effects of metals on stream benthic invertebrate populations and communities can vary within and between locations. With this in mind, we examined whether invertebrate body size could explain some of the variation in metal sensitivity within a species. Benthic macroinvertebrates from a pristine Rocky Mountain foothills' stream were collected using artificial substrates and exposed to a mixture of Cd, Cu, and Zn in stream microcosms for 10 d at their respective Colorado chronic criterion levels (4.0, 5.0, and 50 mu g/L). The effects of metals on the ephemeropterans Baetis tricaudatus (Baetidae), Ephemerella infrequens (Ephemerellidae), and Rhithrogena hageni (Heptageniidae) and the plecopteran Pteronarcella badia (Pteronarcyidae) were size dependent, as there was an inverse relationship between body size and survivorship. These results may have important implications for setting water-quality criteria for metals and For using benthic invertebrates in biological assessments. " 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. Needham,JG and Claassen,PW 1925 A Monograph of the Plecoptera of North America. Entomological Society of America, Lafayette, Indiana. 397 pages. Figure 11 at the top of this webpage is from this publication. 
Peckarsky,BL 1980 Influence of detritus on colonization of stream invertebrates. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 37, 957-963. Peckarsky,BL 1983 Biotic interactions or abiotic limitations? A model of lotic community structure. In: Dynamics of Lotic Ecosystems. Eds: Fontaine III,Thomas D; Bartell,Steven M Ann Arbor Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 303-323. Peckarsky,BL 1985 Do predaceous stoneflies and siltation affect the structure of stream insect communities colonizing enclosures? Canadian Journal of Zoology 63, 1519-1530. Peckarsky,BL; Dodson,SI 1980 Do stonefly predators influence benthic distributions in streams? Ecology 61(6) 1275-1282. Abstract Richardson,JW; Gaufin,AR 1971 Food habits of some western stonefly nymphs. Transactions of American Entomological Society 97, 91-121. Sanders,HO and Cope,OB 1968 The relative toxicities of several pesticides to naiads of three species of stoneflies. Limnology and Oceanography 13(1) 112-117. First page Shepard, WD. and Stewart KW 1983 Comparative Study of Nymphal Gills in North American Stonefly Genera and a New, Proposed Paradigm of Plecoptera Gill Evolution. Miscellaneous Publications of the Entomological Society of America 13:1-57 Illustration of nymph osmobranchiae (gills) on page 56. Stewart,KW and Stark,BP 2002 Nymphs of North American Stonefly Genera. 2nd edition The Caddis Press, Columbus, Ohio. 510 pages. Photo of nymph from above on page 111 figure 6.46. Illustrations of nymph on page 461-462, figures 15.1-15.2 Stewart,KW; Szczytko,SW abd BP Stark 1982 Drumming behavior of four species of North American Pteronarcyidae (Plecoptera): dialects in Colorado and Alaska Pteronarcella badia. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 75:530-533. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse (NAWQA) shows this species is present in Gunnison County. Data as of 1Sep2005 Ziegler,DD and Stewart,KW 1977 Drumming behavior of eleven Nearctic stonefly (Plecoptera) species Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 70(4)495-505. Zeigler,DD and Stewart,KW 1985 Age effects of drumming behavior of Pteronarcella badia (Plecoptera) males. Entomological News 96(4) 157–160 |