Plecoptera of the Daniel L. Gustafson Aquatic Invertebrate Collection, Montana Entomology Collection, Montana State University

The adults and nymphs of Plecoptera, an order of aquatic insects commonly named stoneflies, are emulated in fly fishing patterns and the nymphs are used in water quality assessments. They are encountered in the flowing freshwaters of Montana and the state has relatively high species richness for this group. From 2018 to 2022, Montana Entomology Collection (MTEC), funded by the Council on Library and Information Resources “Hidden Collections” grant, digitized stonefly (Insecta: Plecoptera) specimens housed in its museum. This produced over 2000 records detailing sampling localities, collecting dates, number of individuals, and identifications of stoneflies collected mainly from Montana, USA. The records reveal the efforts of 40 collectors, spanning 60 years of sampling. This dataset makes information associated with 22,600 individual specimens from over 90 species stored in the MTEC available.