Two lost undescribed ice crawler species from the Pacific Northwest -- Grylloblatta "olympica" and G. "vancouverensis", species incognitus (Insecta, Notoptera, Grylloblattidae)

Bergdahl, James

Species of the genus Grylloblatta (Insecta, Notoptera, Grylloblattidae) have a restricted geographical distribution limited to northwest North America. They are all flightless ground-inhabiting species usually found in close association with caves, lava tubes, talus fields, cloud forests, cirque basins, bluffs of river gorges and other steep topographic breaks that provide cool shaded habitat with an abundance of colluvial-rock material on the surface, in montane and foothill regions. Many of the speices can be found at high elevation in subalpine and alpine zones where they are associated with periglacial permanent snowfields and other nival habitats that experience deep annual snowfalls. In these locales they are often found actively foraging at night for wind-blown (aeolian) debris deposited on snowfields (Papp, 1978; Edwards, 1987), a rich source of energy and nutrients in low productivity landscapes (Edwards & Banko, 1976), hence their name ice crawlers. The lower-elevation range of grylloblattids is poorly understood because the geographic distribution of the populations is very patchy, and few entomologists collect in winter months during their primary surface-active season. .... One objective of this report is to provide a brief overview of Grylloblatta diversity, and life cycle and habitat characteristics as a source of encouragement for entomologists to look for and collect them at all months of the year, especially in new areas where they are suspected to occur, and using methods that preserve specimens suitable for DNA analysis. Two of the most exciting tasks for field entomologists is prospecting for new species or attempting to recollect extremely rare or lost species, such as the two species incognitus highlighted here.

Two lost undescribed ice crawler species from the Pacific Northwest -- Grylloblatta "olympica" and G. "vancouverensis", species incognitus (Insecta, Notoptera, Grylloblattidae)

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