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Member Symposium

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Small Orders, Big Ideas: Biodiversity of Polyneoptera

NE USA stonefly (Plecoptera) regional species of greatest conservation need: Importance of taxonomic study, museum specimens, and new collecting in preserving imperiled stoneflies

Sunday, November 9, 2025
3:20 PM - 3:35 PM Pacific
Location: Oregon Convention Center, B115, OCC
Oral Presentation
Multiple institutions and a host of plecopterologists and graduate students are working with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and northeast USA state agencies (CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, PA, NJ, NH, NY, RI, VA, VT, WV) to assess the imperilment of 33 stoneflies species. Objectives for these “Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need” (RSGCNs) include: assess taxonomic status, update distributional information, assess habitat use and threats, sequence DNA barcodes, model species distribution, and assess conservation status. Important taxonomic findings include new synonyms, historical misidentifications, and further suggestions of status changes. Visits to several important museums confirmed species concepts and provided new records for target species and many others. New collecting is doing much the same. Adherence to biodiversity data standards is building recently documented occurrence data sets with historic and contemporary context, data desperately needed by states and NatureServe to effectively rank conservation statuses. Fieldwork during 2025 has concentrated in CT, ME, NH, NY, PA, RI, WV, and VT. A monograph for NY stoneflies is now in review and two more (PA and WV) planned for submission at the end of the year. These relatively modest funds and those from our institutions are training several graduate students in both basic and applied aspects of entomology and making a big difference in our understanding of the northeast USA stonefly fauna.