REDISCOVERY OF THE RARE STONEFLY UTAPERLA SOPLADORA AT THE TYPE LOCALITY MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY AFTER IT WAS DESCRIBED

Abstract

Utaperla sopladora Ricker was named as a monotypic genus and species from a holotype male, with the type locality given as Puffer’s Lake, Utah (Ricker 1952). A 2nd specimen from the Yukon River, Dawson, Yukon Territory, Canada was available to Bill Ricker when he named the species. This female paratype was designated as the allotype, and Ricker stated that he had “little hesitation in describing the latter under the same name.” Time has borne out the validity of Ricker’s statement, since subsequent collections between northern Canada and Utah have produced specimens that all seem conspecific (Gaufin 1964, Gaufin et al. 1972, Ricker and Scudder 1975, Baumann et al. 1977, Stewart and Ricker 1997). Additionally, Ricker (1976) gave the etymology of the binomial name: Utaperla means the perlid from Utah, since the type species is from Utah, and sopladora is derived from the Spanish word soplador translated as “puffer.”