Order Plecoptera

Abstract

Plecoptera is a small neopteran order that probablyemerged in the Upper Carboniferous (Grimaldi & Engel,2005; Bethoux et al., 2011). The order is distributed acrossall continents except Antarctica and has about 4,000species in 16 families (Fochetti & Tierno-de-Figueroa,2008). In the Neotropical region, there are 542 describedspecies (DeWalt et al., 2017) distributed in 6 families and48 endemic genera (except for Anacroneuria which is alsoreported in the Nearctic Region; Stark et al., 2009; Vera,2009; McCulloch et al., 2016). Adults are weak flyers andare found in riparian vegetation, typically at high elevations(up to 3,800e4,200 m) (Roback, 1980). However, theyalso occur at low elevations <100 m (e.g., Anacroneuriasp., Avelino-Capistrano, 2014) and even at sea level(Klapopteryx kuscheli IlliesdPessacq, pers. obs.). Theycan be easily found on substrates such as rocks, bryophytes,and litter in low-orders rivers with clean and flowingwater. Most Plecoptera nymphs are very sensitive toenvironmental pollution (exceptions include Anacroneuria;Avelino-Capistrano, 2014) and are often used in freshwatermonitoring programs (Callisto et al., 2001; Buss et al.,2002). However, much of those studies are based onfamily-level analyses (e.g., Junqueira & Campos, 1998;Miserendino & Pizzolo´n, 1999), in part because of the highdiversity and lack of adequate keys to identify stoneflies atlower taxonomic levels. Some authors have associatednymphs with adults by rearing methods (e.g., Ribeiro,2004; Ribeiro & Raphael, 2005; Pessacq & Omad, 2012),although in recent years, molecular tools have been successfullyused for this purpose (e.g., Mynott et al., 2011;Tierno-de-Figueroa et al., 2011; Avelino-Capistrano et al.,2014, 2015). Keys to Neotropical nymphs have beendeveloped by many authors (e.g., Benedetto, 1974;Romero, 2001), although the keys of Stark et al. (2009) arethe most comprehensive. This chapter is based in part onthis last work, with the addition of photographs, drawings,and the recently described genus Pehuenioperla (Vera, 2009).