The Midwest, USA (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) hosts 158 species of stoneflies from 41 genera and 9 families. The identity of the specimens has been confirmed through direct examination of specimens found in natural history museums, amassed from 30 years of contemporary collection efforts, and the review of trusted, peer-reviewed literature. This dataset represents a broad temporal span, from the first archived collections of stoneflies from the region in 1860 to the most recent collection efforts culminating in 2025.
This dataset contains 92 columns and 49,058 rows. Each row is representative of an observation of a specific lifestage and sex of an individual species recorded at a single location and time. Each row has been assigned a 36-character Globally Unique Identifier (GUID). A total of 40,538 distinct collection series, including all individuals across lifestages, cast exuvia, and sexes of a species by preservation style (ethanol vials or pinned specimens) from a collecting event, are identified with unique institution-assigned catalog numbers when available. Each column has been mapped to Darwin Core Archive terminology with the exception of project-specific columns, which are indicated by the prefix "MID_". Multiple values within observation data are indicated by a space-vertical bar-space, " | ". Within this dataset, 48,698 occurrence records have been associated with coordinate pair data and georeferenced to the highest precision allowable by the locality label metadata associated with the specimen. Georeferencing for the majority of records will place the location within a USGS HUC12 drainage.
The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables.
The core data table contains 49,058 records.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Hogan P, DeWalt R, Grubbs S, Yoder M (2026). Stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) of the Midwest, USA: A Species Occurrence Dataset Compiled over Nearly 170 Years. Version 1.1. Biodiversity Data Journal. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt.pensoft.net/resource?r=midwestern_usa_plecoptera&v=1.1
Occurrence; Species Richness; Faunistics; Landscape; Aquatic Insects; Occurrence; Specimen
This dataset includes records from the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Completeness of sampling is diminished in western Iowa and Minnesota.
| Bounding Coordinates |
South West [36.988, -96.937], North East [48.775, -80.528] |
N/A
| Kingdom |
Animalia
|
| Phylum |
Arthropoda
|
| Class |
Insecta
|
| Order |
Plecoptera
|
| Family |
Perlidae,
Leuctridae,
Chloroperlidae,
Peltoperlidae,
Perlodidae,
Taeniopterygidae,
Pteronarcyidae,
Capniidae,
Nemouridae
|
| Start Date / End Date |
1860-01-01 / 2025-12-31 |
These data were compiled through the review of specimens archived in natural history museums, contemporary collecting efforts, and relevant published literature records.
| Study Extent |
United States of America: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. |
| Quality Control |
Specimens were reviewed by taxonomic experts. Records for which species-level determinations could not be reliably assigned were instead given higher taxonomic determinations (e.g., genus, family, etc.) as appropriate to prevent the inclusion of dubious data. Directed contemporary collecting efforts also occurred, targeting specific species to confirm presence from subregions. |
Method step description:
-
Field Methods:
Museum specimens were collected using various methods not generally accounted for on label data. Contemporary immature specimens collected by PNH and RED included dipnets, kick seines, Surber-samplers, or handpicking from various substrates. Nymphs were often collected for rearing to obtain adults. Adult sample methods varied by season and species. In winter months, beating sheets yielded adults from trees or dry leaf packs. Handpicking from bridge abutments, trees, and rocks were also used. Spring and summer sampling used beating sheets, sweep nets, and ultraviolet or mercury vapor light traps to target nocturnally active species. Field preservation was in 75 to 95% EtOH, depending upon objectives.
-
Laboratory Methods:
Specimen preservation is dependent upon regional institution standards, but most commonly included storing specimens within vials filled with 70-95% ethanol for both adults and immature specimens. A less common approach involved pinning adult specimens. Pinned specimens are often more prevalent in older collections, and special attention was required for species determinations. When dissections were attempted, the removed terminalia was stored in a genitalia capsule with the associated adult.
-
Record Compilation and Standardization:
Occurrence data are presence-only. They were compiled over the course of the past three decades into a Filemaker Pro or a TaxonWorks (https://docs.taxonworks.org) dataset. Data were standardized to a Darwin Core Archive occurrence dataset extension (https://dwc.tdwg.org/list/#dwc_Occurrence). Geographic coordinates for most museum data were georeferenced using Acme Mapper 2.2 to the highest resolution allowed using the locality label. Geographic uncertainty in georeferencing was indicated with a radius in meters around the coordinate pair data. Taxon names were validated using Plecoptera.speciesfile.org (DeWalt et al., 2026). Specimen occurrence records were cleaned, organized and standardized using Microsoft Excel (Version 2601), RStudio (Version 4.3.0), and OpenRefine (Version 3.7.2).
| Collection Name |
Illinois Natural History Survey Insect Collection, Champaign, Illinois |
| Collection Name |
Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Collection Name |
Bill P. Stark Collection |
| Collection Name |
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah |
| Collection Name |
Crane Hollow Nature Preserve Collection, Rockbridge, Ohio |
| Collection Name |
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio |
| Collection Name |
Canadian National Collection, Ottawa, Ontario |
| Collection Name |
Cincinnati Natural History Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Collection Name |
C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity, Fort Collins, Colorado |
| Collection Name |
University of Guelph Insect Collection, Ontario |
| Collection Name |
Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois |
| Collection Name |
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois |
| Collection Name |
Iowa State University Insect Collection, Ames, Iowa |
| Collection Name |
Michigan State University Arthropod Research Collection, East Lansing, Michigan |
| Collection Name |
Notre Dame University Insect Collection, South Bend, Indiana |
| Collection Name |
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Columbus, Ohio |
| Collection Name |
Ohio History Connection, Columbus, Ohio |
| Collection Name |
C.A. Triplehorn Insect Collection, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio |
| Collection Name |
Purdue University Entomological Research Collection, West Lafayette, Indiana |
| Collection Name |
Phillip N. Hogan Collection |
| Collection Name |
R.F. Kirchner Collection |
| Collection Name |
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario |
| Collection Name |
Southern Illinois University Carbondale Insect Collection |
| Collection Name |
Stanley W. Szczytko Collection |
| Collection Name |
University of Iowa Hygienics Laboratory, Iowa City, Iowa |
| Collection Name |
University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Collection Name |
University of Minnesota St. Paul, St. Paul, Minnesota |
| Collection Name |
University of Wisconsin Insect Research Collection, Madison, Wisconsin |
| Collection Name |
Western Kentucky University Collection, Bowling Green, Kentucky |
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DeWalt RE, Hopkins H, Neu-Becker U, and Stueber G. Plecoptera Species File. Retrieved on 2026-02-25 at https://plecoptera.speciesfile.org/
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6546-272X