Peltoperla arcuata Needham 1905

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.