We created a checklist of benthic macroinvertebrates taxa found in the environments of the upper Parana River floodplain according to the information found in published articles. The checklist data presents the taxa list, the substrate type, the environment type, and the year that each taxon was initially recorded for the region. We searched for data on aquatic macroinvertebrates recorded in the upper Paraná River floodplain by reviewing published articles and reports (grey literature). We took data from an extensive literature search at the ISI Web of Knowledge, SciELO, and Scopus websites, using the keyword combination “upper Paraná River” or “Paraná River” and “floodplain” or “wetland” and “macroinvertebrate*” for the search. We selected articles published between 1990 and 2020. We selected the articles following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) model (Liberati et al., 2009) and considered the selection in four steps: (1) the country of the study, (2) the title, (3) the abstract, and (4) the full text. The selection of papers followed some eligible parameters such as type of organisms, study area, and the presence of taxa data. During the selection, we excluded macroinvertebrates recorded as parasites or those found in studies of vertebrate feeding habits. Articles that contained these two criteria were excluded from the analyses. The articles that remained were analysed regarding the type of substrate where the macroinvertebrates were recorded (i.e., sediment, macrophytes, or artificial substrates), type of environment where each taxon was found (i.e., lentic or lotic environment), and the year in which each taxon was recorded for the first time in the upper Paraná River floodplain.

This dataset is a supplement to the article: "On the significance of wetlands: Three decades of aquatic macroinvertebrate monitoring programs in a Neotropical floodplain" - Acta Limnologica Brasiliensia. The authors thank are grateful to the funding agencies CAPES and CNPq.