DISTRIBUTION of QUEBEC STONEFLIES (PLECOPTERA) and H. H. Ross Résumé Abstract
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Naturaliste can., 95, 1085-1123, (1968). DISTRIBUTION OF QUEBEC STONEFLIES (PLECOPTERA) W. E. RICKER 2, RE/d MALOUIN 2, PETER HARPER 3 and H. H. Ross Résumé La premiere mention de Plecopteres du Quebec, par P. H. Gosse, date de 1840; on y cite 4 especes du comte de Sherbrooke. De 1876 a 1883, l'abbe Leon Provancher a compile une liste des especes du Que- bec; on peut y reconnaltre aujourd'hui 14 especes reparties dans 10 genres ainsi que des representants d'un autre genre. Le present tra- vail comprend 94 especes examinees par les auteurs et une espece citee dans la litterature. Une espece encore non decrite et une autre pro- bablement nouvelle (on n'en possede que des individus femelles) por- tent le total a 97. La plupart de ces especes appartiennent a une faune commune aux bassins hydrographiques des Grands Lacs et du Saint- Laurent; leur repartition geographique s'etend generalement du Min- nesota au Nouveau-Brunswick. Au sud du Saint-Laurent, on recon- n alit des elements faunistiques provenant de la region appalachienne; et, dans l'est du Quebec, on trouve des especes caracteristiques de la zone cotiere de l'Atl antique. Le nord du Quebec est colonise par les especes les plus robustes du bassin des Grands Lacs, ainsi que par deux especes endemiques; toutefois, la faune arctique typique, presente l'ouest de la Baie d'Hudson, y fait totalement defaut. • Abstract The first report on Quebec stoneflies, by P. H. Gosse, dates from 1840 and mentions 4 species from Sherbrooke County. From 1876 to 1883 l'abbe Leon Provancher listed the species from Quebec Pro- vince; he had 14 species now identifiable amongst 10 genera, and re- presentatives of one other genus. The present report includes 94 named species of which specimens have been seen by the authors, and one species cited from a published record. In addition there is one undescribed species, and another probably undescribed (only females 1. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Nanaimo, British Columbia. 2. Seminaire de Quebec, Universite Laval, Quebec, Quebec. 3. Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec; now at University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario. 4. Illinois Natural History Survey, Urbana, Illinois. 1086 LE NATURALISTE CANADIEN, VOL. 95, 1968 available), for a total of 97. Most of the species are of a group com- mon to much of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence drainage, charac- teristically distributed from Minnesota to New Brunswick. South of the St. Lawrence River there is a strong Appalachian element, and in eastern Quebec there are a few species peculiar to the Atlantic coastal region. Northern Quebec contains some of the hardier repre- sentatives of the Great Lakes fauna and has two endemic species, but it lacks the characteristic arctic species found west of Hudson Bay. Historical Knowledge of the Quebec species of stoneflies dates perhaps from 1823, when the United States naturalist Thomas Say described 4 species that have since been identified — mainly by guesswork — with four that are now known to occur in the province. The first mention of specimens taken locally is in a book dated 1840, by a Mr. P.H. Gosse, described as « a series of conversations on the natural history of Lower Canada ». This book is divided into 26 chap- ters, each referring to a particular time of year. Actually the « conversations » refer not to Lower Canada in general, but to « the immediate neighbourhood of the village of Compton, situated on the river Coaticook, a tributary of the St. Francis, in the county of Sherbrooke.. » References to stoneflies are not very numerous, but they are worth quoting : Page 79 (April 1st). c It belongs to a tribe which I call Water-flies, as I have never seen any of the species except in the immediate vici- nity of water. The species are numerous in this continent, forming the genus Semblis of Fabricius. This is an early kind, the clouded Water- fly (Perla Clio). Page 184 (June 1st). c 1 went out a day or two ago bush-beating among the willows, but the leaves were too young and small to af- ford me much success. I shook off a black Sawfly (Tenthredo), two green Waterflies (Perla Cydippe ?) Page 224 (June 20th). c . .. the delicate Green Waterfly (Perla Cy- dippe) flies about the margins of brooks and rivers; Page 231 (July 1st). c C. — A lad gave me, yesterday, a Water-fly of very large dimensions, measuring about three inches and three- fourths in spread of wing. It is of a dusky colour, and the nervures of the wings are of the same; its claims to notice are only its enormous size, as compared with other species of the genus, for it has no beauty. It is Pteronarcys Regalis. [page 232] F. — lhave taken a very large species Pteronarcys Proteus at Sherbrooke, near the junction of the Magog River with the St. Francis; but I have not any specimens now. It is not, however, near so large as yours, but resembles it in colour. 3, Mr. Gosse was probably not familiar with Say's work, but he had the then very recent paper by Edward Newman (1838), and quotes the names of four of Newman's species. However Gosse's « clouded water-fly » had not KICKER ET AL: DISTRIBUTION OF QUEBEC STONEFLIES 1087 yet been described scientifically — it is obviously a species of Twniopteryx or Brachyptera — so his use of the name c/io is incorrect. The other three names may well be correctly used. The « green water-flies 2. belong to the genus and subgenus Alloperla, though unfortunately Newman's types of cydippe were females that cannot be definitely associated with a particular species among recent materials. Pteronarcys regalis Newman is now considered a synonym of Say's dorsata, and the smaller Pteronarcys might have been either proteus New- man or biloba Newman. Following 1840 there was a gradual increase of stonefly information in North America, but for about 30 years almost none of it directly concerned Quebec. However, during the 1860's and 1870's the great Canadian naturalist l'abbe Leon Provancher was collecting insects assiduously at Portneuf and later at Cap Rouge, west of Quebec city. In 1871 he published in Le Naturaliste ca- nadien a list of Neuroptera taken in Quebec, which included 15 species of stone- flies arranged in 6 genera. In 1876 he described « une pluie d'insectes » that occurred on March 27 at Riviere-du-Loup, consisting of stoneflies of the species Capnia pygmaea. At the same time he mentioned the abundant occurence of this species and C. minima, apparently at Cap Rouge : these insects emerged at maple-syrup time and were often called « mouches a sucre » by the sugar- bush operators. Later in 1876 Provancher's « Petite Faune entomologique du Canada ), that was appearing serially in the Naturaliste canadien, treated the family Per- lides. In 1878 a few « additions et corrections » were added, although for some groups the 1878 revision is less useful than the original treatment of 1876. The summary list of 1878 (p. 144) included 20 species, of which 8 bore names proposed by Provancher himself, and he had already synonymized several of his own 1876 names. In 1883 volume 2 of the Petite Faune was reprinted with some further additions and corrections'. 5. The 1883 treatment of Perlides in the Petite Faune is mainly a reprint of the 1876 material, but there are some interleaved pages, distinguished in numbering by the superscripts 2 and 3, that call attention to most of the additions and corrections pro- posed in 1878. Whether by inadvertence or design, the 1878 revision of Nemoura does not appear in 1883, the treatment of that genus being the same as in 1876. In addition, some pages of the 1883 text have been rearranged and two additional species are in- serted without any indication that they are appearing for the first time. These two are Perla chicoutimiensis (p. 75) and Taeniopteryx glacialis (p. 77), both treated below under Brachyptera glacialis. The 1883 summary list of species (p. 154) is identical with that of 1878 and does not include subsequent changes. The 1883 index (p. 161-162), however, is based on the 1883 text (including the older version of Nemoura). Anyone delving into this material should also be aware that page numbers 55-56 and 153-162 are used twice in the 1883 work: it is the second set of pages 55-56 and the first set of pages 153-162 that pertain to the c Nevropteres . 1088 LE NATURALISTE CANADIEN, VOL. 95, 1968 Provancher usually describes species as being e commun », « assez com- mun », « rare », etc., but only occasionally does he mention any exact locality where specimens were taken. Exceptions are the Allocapnia from Riviere-du- Loup mentioned above, and Brachyptera glacialis (Perla chicoutimiensis) that was found in quantity at Chicoutimi by the Rev. Mr. Huard. Also, of both Phasganophora capitata (Perla marginipes) and Acroneuria lycorias (Perla na- valis) it is said that « on la rencontre souvent sur les vaisseaux navigant sur le Fleuve entre Montreal et Quebec », and P. navalis « est particulierement com- mune aux Trois-Rivieres ». Thus while a great majority of Provancher's records probably apply to the vicinity of Cap Rouge or Portneuf, it is impossible to cite these localities definitely. Provancher's species were variously synonymized or ignored by subsequent writers, so that none appears in the 1925 Monograph by Needham and Claassen. Ricker (1952) studied the type specimens and some of the other specimens in the collection of the Musee Provincial du Quebec, and restored three of Pro- vancher's names to current usage.