Boreus Coloradensis Byers (Mecoptera: Boreidae), a Species and Family New to the Black Hills and South Dakota

Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, Vol. 97 (2018) 61

BOREUS COLORADENSIS BYERS (MECOPTERA: BOREIDAE), A SPECIES AND FAMILY NEW TO THE BLACK HILLS AND SOUTH DAKOTA

Paul J. Johnson Insect Biodiversity Lab. South Dakota State University Brookings, South Dakota 57007 Corresponding author email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Bryophagous, or moss and liverwort feeding, insects in the Black Hills Ecoregion are poorly documented. The snow or winter scorpionfly, Boreus coloradensis Byers (Mecoptera: Boreidae), was found at two sites in Custer County, at the Badger Hole, Custer State Park, just southeast of Legion Lake, on Bryum capillare (Hedw.) (Bryaceae) growing along the foundation of the Badger Clark historical cabin, and on slopes at Bismarck Lake, about 6.5 km east of Custer, on the mosses Bryum argenteum Hedw. and a Dicranella sp. (Dicranaceae) on and adjacent to limestone boulders. Additionally, images were seen of probable B. coloradensis from near Pactola Dam, Pennington County. Nearest published occurrences for B. coloradensis are at Yellowstone National Park, in northwestern Wyoming, and the Snowy Mountains in south-central Wyoming, thus giving a significant range extension of about 2.6 degrees of longitude or 190 km eastward, and a new state record for the family Boreidae and B. coloradensis.

Keywords

New state record, range extension, bryophagy, moss predator, Custer State Park, Badger Hole

INTRODUCTION

The bryophagous scorpionflies (Mecoptera: Boreidae), also known as snow or winter scorpionflies, were taxonomically revised by Penny (1977). In North America from the Rocky Mountain cordillera and eastward, the only family rep- resentatives are of Boreus Latreille. In the eastern ranges of the cordillera Boreus coloradensis Byers was reported from northern Colorado, northeastern Utah, western Wyoming, and western Montana (Penny 1977, 1997). The only other Boreus species in the region is B. bomari Byers and Shaw (1999) described from the Snowy Range in south-central and the Big Horn Mountains in north-central ranges of Wyoming. These distribution records provide the previously known 62 Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, Vol. 97 (2018) areas of Boreus species occurrence closest to the Black Hills of western South Dakota. Until now, no species of the family were reported in publication from any of the states or regions of the northern Great Plains, i.e., eastern Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, or North Dakota. The goal of this report is to record the occurrence of the family Boreidae and B. coloradensis as new to the Black Hills ecoregion and South Dakota.

METHODS

One female and five males of B. coloradensis (Figures 1 & 2) were hand-col- lected in the Black Hills at two locations (Figure 3) separated by approximately 4.5 air km, labeled as: SOUTH DAKOTA, Custer Co., Custer State Park, Badger Hole, 43°45’27”N 103°27’28”W, 1510 m elev., 14 March 2014, P.J. Johnson (2♂, 1♀, PJJC); SOUTH DAKOTA, Custer Co., Bismarck Lake, 43°46’36”N 103°30’44”W, 1594 m elev., 14 March 2014, P.J. Johnson (3♂, PJJC). Identification toB. coloradensis was based on the key, description, and character images in Penny (1977). Geographic distances were measured on GoogleEarth™.

Figure 1. Female Boreus coloradensis Byers from Badger Hole, Black Hills, South Dakota.

Figure 2. Male Boreus coloradensis Byers from Bismarck Lake, Black Hills, South Dakota. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, Vol. 97 (2018) 63

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The records above constitute anew state record for both the family Boreidae and B. coloradensis, as well as a significant eastward extension for the species. The discovery of B. coloradensis from the Black Hills is a range extension of approximately 360 km (225 mi.) northeast of the Snowy Range and 520 km (320 mi.) east of Yellowstone National Park (Penny 1977) (Figure 4). This is equivalent to an approximately 190 km (115 mi.), or 2.6 degrees of longitude, east of the Snowy Range. Although B. bomari was reported from the Big Horn Mountains, about 220 km (137 mi.) due west of the Black Hills, this species remains unknown from our region. One online report of a Boreus species in South Dakota was provided by submis- sion of a photograph by Rick Cowen to BugGuide (http://bugguide.net/node/ view/254846/bgimage). The photographer was contacted and he provided the location information. This imaged specimen was a maleB. coloradensis, reported as from Rapid City, but the photographer reported finding multiple specimens on two occasions in the vicinity of the Pactola Dam, Pennington Co., approximately 35 air km (ca. 21 mi) north of the Badger Hole site and 20 km (12 mi.) west of Rapid City. At the Badger Hole site specimens were found on Bryum capillare Hedw. (Bryaceae) which formed a sparse series of clusters at the foundation base of the Badger Clark historical cabin, on otherwise barren soil. Specimens at Bismarck Lake were found among mixed mosses and lichens that included Bryum argenteum Hedw. and a Dicranella sp. (Dicranaceae) on and adjacent to limestone boulders. Badger Hole is the name given by Charles Badger Clark, Jr. (1883-1957) to his now historical cabin in Custer State Park, South Dakota. Known as Badger Clark, he is best known as the author of A Cowboy’s Prayer, and being the first poet laureate of South Dakota.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Gratitude is extended to Custer State Park and the Black Hills National Forest for protecting critical habits in the Black Hills ecosystem and continue to provide novel records of specialized habitat insects. Rick Cowen, Rapid City, is thanked for sharing his observations and locality data. Mark Gable and Abigail P. Martens kindly gave beneficial review comments to improve the manuscript. This report is a product of the Insect Biodiversity Lab and the Severin-McDaniel Insect Research Collection at South Dakota State University, with support from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute for Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) and the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station. Maps courtesy of GoogleEarth, ©2017 Google LLC, used with permis- sion. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google LLC. 64 Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, Vol. 97 (2018)

LITERATURE CITED

Byers, G.W. and S.R. Shaw. 1999. A new species of Boreus (Mecoptera: Boreidae) from Wyoming. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 72(3):322-326. Penny, N.D. 1977. A systematic study of the family Boreidae (Mecoptera). The University of Kansas Science Bulletin 51(5):141-217. Penny, N.D. 1997. World checklist of extant Mecoptera species. Available at http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/entomology/Entomology_ Resources/mecoptera/index.htm [Cited 21 May 2018].

Figure 3. Two vouchered collection sites for Boreus coloradensis in the Black Hills and an observation site at Pactola Dam not represented by a voucher specimen. Map modified from Google Earth™. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, Vol. 97 (2018) 65

Figure 4. Geographic positions of nearest Boreus coloradensis locations in the Snowy Range and Yellowstone National Park areas of Wyoming relative to the Black Hills, South Dakota. Map modified from Google Earth™. 66 Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science, Vol. 97 (2018)