Troutnut.com Fly Fishing for Trout Home
User Password
or register.
Scientific name search:

> > Aquatic insects of Alaska



Aquatic insects of Alaska

By Troutnut on November 20th, 2015, 5:52 am
I was recently asked about good reading on the topic of aquatic insects in Alaska. I did some recent searches on this topic for work, and here's what I've found (thanks to Luke Jacobus for pointing me to more than a few of these).

The most recent species-specific source on mayflies is:

Randolph RP, McCafferty WP (2005) The mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Alaska, including a new species of Heptageniidae. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 107, 190–199.

A comprehensive source to family-level distribution and abundance is:

Oswood MW (1989) Community structure of benthic invertebrates in interior Alaskan (USA) streams and rivers. (ed) High Latitude Limnology. Springer, pp 97–110

And here's a mixed bag of other papers including some interesting biology related to Alaska's cold climate:

Rinella DJ, Bogan DL, Shaftel RS, Merrigan D (2012) New aquatic insect (Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and Plecoptera) records for Alaska, U.S.A.: range extensions and a comment on under-sampled habitats. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 88, 407–412.


Walters KR, Sformo T, Barnes BM, Duman JG (2009) Freeze tolerance in an arctic Alaska stonefly. J Exp Biol 212, 305–312.


Irons III JG, Miller LK, Oswood MW (1993) Ecological adaptations of aquatic macroinvertebrates to overwintering in interior Alaska (USA) subarctic streams. Canadian Journal of Zoology 71, 98–108.


Irons III JG (1988) Life history (Life history: The detailed life cycle of an organism, including the stages it passes through and characteristic behavior relating to growth and reproduction.) patterns and trophic ecology of Trichoptera in two Alaskan (USA) subarctic streams. Canadian journal of zoology 66, 1258–1265.


Cowan CA, Oswood MW, Buttimore CA, Flanagan PW (1983) Processing and macroinvertebrate colonization of detritus (Detritus: Small, loose pieces of decaying organic matter underwater.) in an Alaskan subarctic stream. Ecography 6, 340–348.


As for fishable hatches, the only hatch anybody's likely to have to match here in interior Alaska is Drunella doddsii. I've also encountered grayling feeding ravenously on a species of Cinygmula that I think might be Cinygmula ramaleyi, but that's yet to be confirmed by entomologists and would represent a new record in this state if it's the case. Ephemerella aurivillii is another of the common mayflies around here, along with various unidentified (at least by me) members of Baetidae, Siphlonuridae, and Epeorus. But I haven't personally seen any of those in fishable numbers.

Comments / replies

TaxonNovember 20th, 2015, 10:23 am
Site Editor
Royse City, TX

Posts: 1350
Jason-

To your list I would add:

*30: A New Genus And New Species of Baetidae from lakes and reservoirs in eastern North America by Hill, Pfeiffer, & Jacobus

*32: Phylogenetic Systematics of the Potamanthidae (Ephemeropters) by Y. J. Bae and W. P. McCafferty
Best regards,
Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com
MillcreekNovember 20th, 2015, 11:12 am
Healdsburg, CA

Posts: 356
Jason,

You might consider adding:

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of the Yukon by P.P. Harper and Francoise Harper.

http://www.ephemeroptera-galactica.com/pubs/pub_h/pubharperp1997p151.pdf

Mark
CrenoNovember 20th, 2015, 1:52 pm
Grants Pass, OR

Posts: 305
The above seems a little mayfly centric :-) While I know there is alot more a quick search gave me this:



Banks, Nathan. 1900. Papers from the Harriman Alaska Expedition. X. Entomological results (4): neuropteroid insects. Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Science 2: 465-476. Download PDF (911 Kb)

Banks, Nathan. 1923. A biological survey of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. 2. Insects, arachnids, and chilopods. Trichoptera. North American Fauna, Washington 46: 146.

Chuluunbat, Suvdtsetseg, Morse, John C., Lessard, JoAnna L., Benbow, M. Eric, Wesener, Matthew D., Hudson, John. 2010. Evolution of terrestrial habitat in Manophylax species (Trichoptera: Apataniidae), with a new species from Alaska. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 29: 413-430.

Ellis, Robert J. 1978. Seasonal abundance and distribution of adult caddisflies of Sashin Creek, Baranof Island, Southeastern Alaska (Trichoptera). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 54: 199-206.

Flint, O.S., Jr. 1976. Book Review. [The Odonata of Canada and Alaska, volume III]. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America 22: 392-393.

Holmquist, C. 1975. Lakes of northern Alaska and northwestern Canada and their invertebrate fauna. Zoologisches Jahrbuch Systematik 102: 373-484.

Irons, J. G., III. 1988. Life history patterns and trophic ecology of Trichoptera in two Alaskan (U.S.A.) subarctic streams. Canadian Journal of Zoology 66: 1258-1265.

Lessard, J.L., Merritt, R.W., Cummins, K.W. 2003. Spring growth of caddisflies (Limnephilidae: Trichoptera) in response to marine-derived nutrients and food type in a southeast Alaskan stream. Annales de Limnologie 39: 3-14.

Muttkowski, Richard A. 1915. Description of a Trichopterous larva from the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. Bulletin of the Wisconsin Natural History Society Milwaukee 13: 42-45.

Nimmo, A.P. 1986. Preliminary annotated checklist of the Trichoptera (Insecta) of Alaska. Contributions to Natural Science : 1-8.

Northington, Robert M., Keyse, Matthew D., Beaty, Steven R., Whalen, Stephen C., Sokol, Eric R., Hershey, Anne E. 2010. Benthic secondary production in eight oligotrophic arctic Alaskan lakes. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 29: 465-479.

Rinella, Daniel J., Bogan, Daniel L. 2008. Significant westward range extension for the limnephilid caddisfly Phanocelia canadensis (Trichoptera): first record from Alaska, U.S.A. Entomological News 119: 295-297.

Rinella, D. J., Bogan, D. L., Shaftel, R. S., Merrigan, D. 2012. New aquatic insect (Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and Plecoptera) records for Alaska, USA: range extensions and a comment on under-sampled habitats. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 88: 407-412.

Vineyard, R.N. 1982. An annotated checklist of the caddisflies (Trichoptera) of SE Alaska. Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 79: 71-75.

Williams, N.E. 1991. Interactions between northern environments and caddisflies - as indicated by southern Alaskan fossils from the last 150,000 years (abstract). Pages 155 in Tomaszewski, C. (ed.) Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Trichoptera. Poznan, Poland, Adam Mickiewicz University Press.
TroutnutNovember 20th, 2015, 5:57 pm
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2737
Thanks everyone! Fantastic additions.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
TroutnutJanuary 29th, 2016, 6:54 pm
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2737
Another possible addition I just stumbled across:

Stewart KW, Oswood MW. (2006) The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of Alaska and western Canada. The Caddis Press, Columbus, Ohio, 325 pp.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
TroutnutFebruary 18th, 2016, 3:14 pm
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2737
Bob Newell suggested some additions to me by email:

1. Northernmost discovery of Bathynellacea (Syncarida:Bathynellidae) with description of a new species of Pacificabathynella from Alaska (USA). by A.I. Camacho, R. Newell, Z. Crete et al., J. of Natural History 23 Sept. 2015.

2. Preliminary survey of the aquatic midge larvae diversity (Diptera: Chironomidae) in Yukon River tributaries, Alaska. B. Hayford, R. Newell, and Z. Crete, Western North American Naturalist
.
3. The ecology of parafluvial ponds on a salmon River (Alaska). MS Thesis, U. of Montana, Z. Crete 2012.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
CrenoFebruary 18th, 2016, 5:49 pm
Grants Pass, OR

Posts: 305
Jason - do you have a date for the Hayford et al paper? Thanks
TroutnutFebruary 18th, 2016, 11:36 pm
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2737
Creno: Nope, but I did a Google Scholar search and found this:

Hayford, B. L., Newell, R. L., & Crete, Z. J. (2014). Survey of Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) from the Kuskokwim River watershed in western Alaska. Western North American Naturalist, 74(2), 208-215.

(PDF available on Google Scholar without a paywall, by the way.)

I wonder if that's what he meant?
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist

Quick Reply

You have to be logged in to post on the forum. It's this easy:
Username:          Email:

Password:    Confirm Password:

I am at least 13 years old and agree to the rules.

Related Discussions

TitleRepliesLast Reply
Re: Camelobaetidius warreni
In the Photography Board by Millcreek
15Sep 16, 2014
by Millcreek
Re: Does anyone know anything about Heptagenia culacantha?
In the Mayfly Species Heptagenia culacantha by GONZO
8Apr 18, 2007
by Konchu
Re: Dark reddish-brown spinner
In the Identify This! Board by Wiflyfisher
13Jul 25, 2014
by Millcreek
Re: good Trichoptera key
In Pycnopsyche Caddisfly Larva by Earlfishman
4Apr 17, 2007
by GONZO
Re: A bunch of new Alaska photos on a new site
In General Discussion by Troutnut
1Mar 31, 2008
by Lifeaquatic
Re: Ochrotrichia tenuata
(2 more)

In the Photography Board by Millcreek
1May 10, 2015
by PaulRoberts
Re: Flightless Mayfly??
In the Mayfly Genus Serratella by ZenCane
8Apr 5, 2010
by Gutcutter
Re: Basic entomology for a beginner
In Beginner Help by FlyCoug
3May 3, 2016
by Jmd123
Re: More Calamoceratidae photos
In the Identify This! Board by Crepuscular
21Feb 19, 2013
by Gutcutter
Re: Invasive Bluegills
In General Discussion by CaseyP
3Nov 19, 2007
by Jmd123