A new species of stonefly has been found on the Dragon! Remember those inventories of flora and fauna of the Dragon Run Watershed that Natural Heritage conducted several years ago? Amongst the insects collected for identification was a stonefly that had never been described before. Scientists knew they had discovered something very special, and sure enough, this is a species new to science.

The specimen was sent to two leading stonefly experts, Dr. Boris Kondratieff, a professor at Colorado State University, and Fred Kirchner, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Huntington, West Virginia. These two gentlemen have developed a unique hobby of searching for stoneflies along rivers all over the United States. Between them, they have identified new species in several areas. They immediately recognized the Dragon Run specimen as a species never before identified, and made plans to come to Virginia to collect a series of specimens. Sure enough, on 23 May, they, along with Dr. Steve Roble from Virginia Natural Heritage, visited several sites on the Dragon to look for the insects along the banks of the river. I served as a guide, and got to witness, first-hand, the capture of several specimens at both Big Island and Mascot.

About 500 to 600 species of stonefly comprise nine families found in North America. This aquatic insect, in the larval (nymph) stage, is characterized by two long antennae, two hairlike tails, gills that are often located on or behind each leg, and six segmented legs on the middle section of the body, with each leg sporting two hooks on the end. It is multicolored with black, brown, tan and yellow and some are considered quite beautiful. The adults have two pairs of soft, folded, transparent wings over the abdomen, well-developed antennae, claws on the tarsi, and an elongated anal region on the hind wings. They are not as showy as the nymph, usually colored a nondescript gray or dark brown.

When small, the larvae (nymphs) feed on dead plant material and one-celled animals on the bottom of the stream. As they mature, they become efficient predators, hunting along the stream bed, under and around stones and in vegetation and debris. It takes anywhere from three months to three years for the nymphs to develop. They are most often found in clear mountain streams and serve as an important food source for many species of fish. Because they cannot survive in cloudy or polluted water, their presence indicates clean water with high oxygen levels.

Fresh specimens, especially live adult males, must be collected to examine unique characteristics which identify the species. When the adult stoneflies emerge from the larval stage, they climb upon streamside vegetation for a short time before taking wing and scattering over a wide area. This is the optimum time to collect specimens. They do not linger long on the vegetation and the warmer the weather, the quicker they disperse, so it is important to hunt for the newly-hatched adults early in the day while temperatures are cool. The scientists were fortunate in that they happened to choose a day when the temperature was unseasonably cool and they managed to find quite a number of both males and females. It will be some time before the whole identification and verification process is completed, but when we hear any news, we’ll post something in the newsletter and/or the web site.                                                    Teta Kain