Peltoperla arcuata Needham, 1905

Myers, Luke William, Kondratieff, Boris C, Grubbs, Scott A, Pett, Lindsey A, DeWalt, R. Edward, Mihuc, Timothy B & Hart, Lily Veronica, 2025, Distributional and species richness patterns of the stoneflies (Insecta, Plecoptera) in New York State, Biodiversity Data Journal 13, pp. e 158952-e 158952 : e158952-

Peltoperla arcuata Needham, 1905

Notes

This species is commonly referred to as the Appalachian Roachfly ( Stark et al. 2012), and is known from Quebec south mainly along the Appalachian Mountains to Tennessee ( Stark 2000, DeWalt et al. 2024). DeWalt et al. (2016) found this species to be relatively common in headwater streams of eastern Ohio. Several larval records from southern and central New York were excluded from our study since positive separation of larval Peltoperla and Talloperla can be problematic, especially in older material. Stark (2017) provided new characters that need to be evaluated with New York material of both genera. Yokum et al. (1995) documented a semivoltine life cycle for a population of P. arcuata in West Virginia. Eggs underwent a six-month diapause period followed by 18 months of continuous larval growth, with emergence of adults from late May through July. In contrast, Miller and Kovalak (1979) report a univoltine life cycle for P. arcuata in Pennsylvania. The sole report of this species in New York is based on the historical type material collected in June 1891 (Fig. 31 ) at approximately 125 m asl (Fig. 32 ) from Level IV Ecoregion Finger Lakes Uplands and Gorges (60 d) in the vicinity of Ithaca (Fig. 30 e ). We suspect that this species is more common than our sampling suggests. Rearing of larvae from lower elevation headwater streams would likely yield several populations.

Figures

Figure 31. Adult flight period for two Peltoperlidae species in New York State. Red fill indicates positive adult collections while gray shaded areas indicate adults are likely present but not reported.

Figure 32. Elevation box plot for two Peltoperlidae species in New York State. Boxes indicate interquartile range, horizontal line in box represents median elevation, and outlliers are depicted with large circles.

Figure 30 e. Peltoperla arcuata