Pteronarcyidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Supercohort: Polyneoptera
Cohort: Anartioptera
Magnordo: Polyplecoptera
Superordo: Plecopterida
Ordo: Plecoptera
Subordo: Arctoperlaria
Infraordo: Systellognatha

Superfamilia: Pteronarcyoidea
Familia: Pteronarcyidae
Genera: Pteronarcella – Pteronarcys
Name

Pteronarcyidae Newman, 1853

Synonyms

Pteronarcidae Newman, 1853
Pteronarcinae Newman, 1853
Pteronarcini Newman, 1853

References
Originnal reference
References
Links

The Pteronarcyidae, also known as giant stoneflies or salmonflies, are a family of the order Plecoptera.

Natural history

Two genera of Pteronarcyidae are found; Pteronarcys is found in all of North America, while Pteronarcella is found only in the west. The two genera comprise 10 distinct species, two of which are Pteronarcella. Lifespans range from one to four years. The name "salmonflies" comes from their role in the diets of salmon, and they play an important role in fly fishing. Adults emerge from April to June. The giant stoneflies are very sensitive to stress.
Habit and habitat

They live in a lotic-erosional habitat. Larvae of giant stoneflies live in cool streams of small to medium size, in leaf and woody debris packs. They prefer swift riffles between cobbles and boulders. Although the Pteronarcyidae are primarily shredders-detritivores, some facultative scrapers occur. They chew and mine through leaf litter. They are intolerant to loss of coarse particulate organic matter that is their food and habitat.
Movement and other biology

They are classified as crawlers. The larvae move very slowly and pretend to be dead when disturbed. They move their abdomens from side to side when under respiratory duress.
Evolutionary history

A fossil genus, Pteroliriope is known from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, China.[1]
References

Cui, Yingying; Béthoux, Olivier; Kondratieff, Boris; Shih, Chungkun; Ren, Dong (2016-10-18). "The first fossil salmonfly (Insecta: Plecoptera: Pteronarcyidae), back to the Middle Jurassic". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 16 (1): 217. doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0787-9. ISSN 1471-2148. PMC 5070387. PMID 27756205.

Voshell, J.R. A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America. McDonald and Woodward. Blacksburg, Va. 2002.
Merritt and Cummins. An Introduction to the Aquatic insects of North America 3rd ed. Kendall Hunt. Dubuque, Iowa. 1996.