Describing and understanding species should not be viewed as arcane endeavors nor esoteric in practice, but rather are important for biodiversity inventories (e.g., ATBIs and BioBlitzes), enacting conservation practices, predicting diversity patterns, preparation of scientifically credible policy and law, and proper management of natural resources. The capacity to initiate conservation practices or provide protection for rare species is predicated on sound taxonomy and systematics. Defining or redefining a species, regardless of which species concept is applied, including taking an integrative morphological-molecular approach to correct misidentifications or update out-of-date taxonomy, occasionally needs to be the first step in the conservation or protection process. In addition, care has to be taken to correct misinformation, including inaccurate or incomplete distributional information. Case studies will be presented on three species of North American Leuctra (Plecoptera: Leuctridae): Hampshire Needlefly (L. laura Hitchcock, 1969), Louisiana Needlefly (L. szczytkoi Stark & Stewart, 1981), and Mountain Needlefly (L. monticola Hanson, 1941). Although the circumstances regarding taxonomic and distributional information of each stonefly species are unique, resolving and updating both are necessary to move forward with potential conservation practices.