Shortwing Snowfly

Allocapnia vivipara · Order: Plecoptera · Family: Capniidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Shortwing Snowfly
Photo: daksu, CC BY

The shortwing snowfly lives in the eastern part of North America. Its native range is also the eastern region of North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Found in eastern North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Native to eastern North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 21 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Shortwing Snowfly photo 3
Photo: greatlakes25, CC BY
Shortwing Snowfly photo 4
Photo: Seth G. Breeding, CC BY
Shortwing Snowfly photo 5
Photo: psweet, CC BY-SA
Shortwing Snowfly photo 6
Photo: Randy A Nonenmacher, CC BY

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocapnia_vivipara

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.