The stoneflies of West Virginia: A new annotated checklist

The state of West Virginia possesses the third highest stonefly (Insecta: Plecoptera) species diversity of any state east of the Mississippi River. Yet the scientific literature describing West Virginia’s stonefly fauna lacks both location specificity and, in many cases, vouchered specimens, hindering these checklists’ usefulness for directing conservation decisions. Similarly, the most recent state checklists were published prior to taxonomic revisions of important genera, such as Isoperla (Perlodidae) and Oemopteryx (Taeniopterygidae). The objective of this research is to assemble an annotated checklist and atlas of stonefly diversity found in West Virginia. A dataset comprising >4,600 species occurrence records is being constructed, largely by incorporating specimens reviewed from natural history collections, such as the Illinois Natural History Survey, Colorado State University, Brigham Young University, and the United States National Museum. These historical specimen data, collected mostly during the 20th century, are supplemented by contemporary collection records from the past eight years. These data are used to elucidate distributions of rare species, validate species’ presence within the state, and confirm new state records. This approach has recovered 152 species from the state, including 12 new state records. Additionally, the dataset can be used to estimate diversity within a watershed, test for co-occurrence, and predict the variables that contribute most to species richness in West Virginia. This faunistic approach to one state’s stonefly diversity will contribute to our knowledge of stonefly diversity and conservation status in the Eastern United States as a whole.