PSYCHE 
Vol. 79 
December, 1972 
No. 4 
A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAN BOREUS , 
B. NOTOPERATES N. SP. 
I. COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY AND 
SYSTEMATICS (MECOPTERA: BOREIDAE)* 
By Kenneth W. Cooper 
University of California, Riverside 
Introduction 
All but one of the 26 or so of the species of Boreus now known 
from Eurasia and North America (listed in Svensson 1972) are 
found chiefly within the bounds of north temperate or boreal forests 
where winters are cold. The northern margin of their distribution 
is roughly the 0°C mean annual isotherm, in marked contrast to the 
more gentle climatic requirements of the vast majority of Mecoptera. 
Though distributional limits are now probably poorly known, the 
southmost regions from which Boreus have been reported have mean 
annual temperatures generally less than I2.8°C (55°F), and in all 
cases there is a winter period of snow cover. Because the adults are 
charming insects, bizarre and easily recognized but seen alive by but 
few, and are most often collected on the surface of snow, active and 
mating at temperatures below freezing, it is not surprising that a 
fairly large, markedly anecdotal literature has developed about them. 
Despite frequent notes and longer narratives (nowhere fully re- 
viewed), there are few extensive accounts of their biology. Indeed 
Strubing’s (1950) admirable study of Boreus hyemalis (L.) is the 
only substantial account available of the life history of a boreid. 
My own experience with Boreus extends over many years. As 
others before me, I have always associated Boreus with cold, snow, 
fairly high annual precipitation (20 inches or more), and north tem- 
perate forest. It was with near disbelief that I found two female 
pupae of Boreus , on a very hot, dry autumn afternoon in an Upper 
Sonoran region of chaparral and yellow pine, in arid southern Cali- 
fornia. Not unexpectedly, this most southern of all Boreus proves to 
* Manuscript received by the editor November 28 , 1972 
269 
