Biodiversity conservation strategies are frequently hampered by the lack of relevant data on species distributions and abundances. This is particularly the case in the conservation of invertebrate taxa where the difficulty of obtaining simple information regarding distributions means the threatened status of many species remains unrecognised and unmanaged. There is therefore a pressing need for new methods to be established to reveal distribution and abundance patterns in a cost effective manner. A recent project investigated the use of a variety of sampling methods including conservation detection dogs and environmental DNA to improve the detection of rare and cryptic taxa. We used a threatened genus of alpine stoneflies, Thaumatoperla, as a case study for the sampling methods. Understanding the distribution of this genus and its specific habitat requirements is fundamental to their conservation, but has been hindered by their flightless behaviour and cryptic larvae, which make traditional sampling methods ineffective. Their discrete distribution and habitat (in alpine stream as larvae, and adjacent to streams as adults), and the existence of reasonable survey information for one Thaumatoperla species from recent extensive surveys, however, makes them model organisms. This presentation will focus on the success of using conservation detection dogs on Thaumatoperla species.