Thursday, June 18, 2015

New discoveries: the 2014-2015 season


(Perlodid stonefly, genus Kogotus: Clark Fork River in Montana, August 18. 2014.)

I think of the annual "season" as starting each fall and ending the following spring.  So, the 2014-2015 season is pretty much over.  True, I might find a new species or two in the Rivanna River this summer, but in most of the streams that I visit the annual cycle is finished.  So, what did we discover this year in terms of new species (EPT species)?

1. 10/28/14 and 12/27/14.  The common stonefly, Acroneuria lycorias, which we distinguished from Acroneuria carolinensis.

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2. 12/21/14.  A new genus of Lepidostomatid: Theoliopsyche.


This one was not in its own case: that case belongs to a Pycnopsyche gentilis caddisfly larva.  Still, it was a good find since this genus is not all that common.
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3. 12/27/14.  A new genus of crane fly: Dicranota.

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4. 1/2/15.  A humpless case-maker that one of my friends had found twice before, but this was the first time I had seen it: Adicrophleps hitchcocki.


This species is "imperiled" in the state of Virginia.
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5. 1/19/15.  A new Isoperla Perlodid: Isoperla latte.   Found -- where else? -- at the Rapidan River.

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6. 4/12/15.  And a new Nemourid stonefly: Ostrocerca truncata.


7. and 8.  To these we should add two caddisfly species that my friend discovered (for which, see the entries of 11/11/14 and 11/17/14):  Molanna blenda and Psilotreta rufa.
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Summer is here, and it's here in spades!  Day after day our temperatures have been in the 90's with dew points as high as 74ยบ.  Sure hope this abates.   I can't do any stream work until it does.



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