Common names of stoneflies (Plecoptera) from the United States and Canada

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Stoneflies are one of the important and often dominant orders of insects in North American stream ecosystems. They have remained generally poorly known to nonspecialists because of their cryptic habits and often nocturnal activity. Larger species, or those that are colorful or important to flyfishers, have acquired regional or local names that vary from place to place. Names such as blacks, browns, greens, yellows, rollwings, needleflies, broadbacks, sallies, olives, stones, willowflies, or the generic names Acroneuria, Isoperla, Pteronarcys, and others have become firmly established in fly-fishing literature and are used by flyfishers. The following list of recommended common names of Plecoptera species from the United States and Canada was originally formulated by us, acting as a subcommittee of the North American Benthological Society Scientific and Common Names Committee. This committee was charged with producing comprehensive species checklists of North American aquatic invertebrates, including insects with assigned common names. The first of the intended series of special publications by the American Fisheries Society of scientific and common names of U.S. aquatic invertebrates was of mollusks (Turgeon et al., 1988); the volumes on Insecta never followed. Our list is therefore provided because of the importance of stoneflies in aquatic ecosystems and in an attempt to standardize common names for use by flyfishers and other individuals.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Invertebrates

Suggested citation: Stark, B. P., K. W. Stewart, S. W. Szczytko, and R. W. Baumann. 1998. Common names of stoneflies (Plecoptera) from the United States and Canada. Ohio Biological Survey Notes 1:1-18.