Rediscovery of Polystoechotes punctata (Fabricius, 1793) (Neuroptera: Ithonidae) in Eastern North America

Polystoechotes punctata (Fabricius, 1793) (Neuroptera: Ithonidae) was formerly widespread across North America, but was extirpated from eastern North America by the 1950s. We report a specimen collected from Fayetteville, Arkansas, which represents a new state record and the first specimen recorded in eastern North America in over fifty years. We also reexamine a previously published dataset and discuss the history of P. punctata in eastern North America. The importance of community science efforts are discussed and compared with museum holdings. We propose that P. punctata may have always been uncommon in eastern North America, or at least when insect collecting began in earnest in the late 1800s, and support our case by examining collection effort in other insects. This discovery suggests there may be relictual populations of this large, charismatic insect yet to be discovered.