Snowfield
Guides
Grylloblatta chintimini
Marys Peak Ice Cricket, rock crawler
Grylloblatta chintimini is a species of rock crawler (family Grylloblattidae) described in 2015 from Marys Peak in the Oregon Coast Range. It is one of the most recently described species in this relict insect order, bringing the total number of Grylloblatta species to 15. The species occurs in a restricted alpine habitat on persistent snowpack near the 1250 m summit. Like other grylloblattids, it is adapted to cold, moist environments and is considered a living fossil representing one of the most basal lineages of winged insects.
Phlaeopterus
Phlaeopterus is a genus of omaliine rove beetles containing 22 species distributed across northwestern North America and eastern Asia. The genus exhibits notable evolutionary transitions in body size, with two independent origins of large-bodied adults (exceeding 5 mm) from a small-bodied common ancestor. Large-bodied species are exclusively associated with alpine snowfield habitats, though statistical support for this correlation remains unconfirmed. The genus is monophyletic based on combined molecular and morphological phylogenetic analyses.