Conchapelopia Fittkau, 1957

Namayandeh, Armin, Hudson, Patrick L., Bogan, Daniel L. & Hudson, John P., 2024, Chironomidae (Diptera: Insecta) of Alaska, USA, with descriptions of new species and a checklist, Zootaxa 5511 (1), pp. 1-95 : 42-43

Conchapelopia Fittkau, 1957

The evolution of taxa associated with the genus Conchapelopia is somewhat confusing since its creation in Fittkau (1957). The North American fauna was established by Roback (1971), where he created three subgenera under this genus, Conchapelopia , Helopelopia , and Mesopelopia . Roback (1981) then moved the species in Mesopelopia back into the subgenus Conchapelopia and placed the subgenus Meropelopia in the genus Arctopelopia Fittkau, 1962 as a subgenus of Conchapelopia . Today Meropelopia is considered a genus, and Helopelopia has been suggested to be of generic status. However, Cranston & Epler (2013) suggest that it may still be treated as a subgenus and that the concept of Conchapelpia should be broadened.

The record of Conchapelopia (s.s.) aagaardi Murray, 1987 is based on DNA barcodes of specimens collected from Wrangell-St. Elias NP ( Webb et al. 2022). Roback (1971) described Conchapelopia (s.s.) bruna as a new species from specimens collected from a car-top trap ( Sommerman & Simmet 1965) driven between Bird Creek and Anchorage in early August. Roback (1984) reported on a female pupa he identified as Conchapelopia nr. currani (Walley, 1925) from a small stream entering Anton Larsen Bay on Kodiak Island in late July. Records of Conchapelopia pallens ( Coquillett, 1902) are based on adults and pupae of both sexes collected from streams on Afognak and Kodiak Islands in July by Roback (1984). Roback (1984) identified these as Conchapelopia goniodes (Sublette 1964) , now a junior synonym of Conchapelopia (s.s.) pallens ( Coquillett, 1902) ( Bilyj 1985) . Larvae of Conchapelopia species have been reported from tundra ponds near Utqiagvik by Butler et al. (1980a) and Lougheed et al. (2011). Our collections of unknown larvae are from Grey’s Creek off the Parks Highway north of Willow, the East Fork of the Moose River on the Kenai Peninsula, Meadow Creek near Big Lake, the South Fork of Little Campbell Creek in Anchorage, Neck Lake on Prince of Wales Island, and an uplift pond associated with the Sheridan Glacier. Our other contributions are larval specimens of the subgenus Helopelopia from the East Alsek River and an uplift pond near the Sheridan Glacier, which are new Alaskan records for this subgenus. The larvae of Conchapelopia species are common inhabitants of running waters throughout the state.