Despite increasing knowledge of the ability of keystone animal species (''ecosystem engineers'') to change their physical environment, there is little and inconsistent evidence that benthic invertebrates affect the erosion of bottom material in streams. Therefore we designed field stream experiments and observations to investigate the effect of mobile predaceous stonefly (Dinocras cephalotes) larvae on sand erosion. When short of prey, the stoneflies erode sand from stream riffles thereby deepening the interstices between cobbles. On the basis of reasonable assumptions, we speculate that Dinocras has an erosion potential of about 200--400 kg sand m-2 yr-1 at natural population densities under favorable flow conditions. We consider the possible implications of the bioturbation potential of stream invertebrates for ecology (habitat quality and disturbance) and hydrology (sand transport and stability of coarse stream bottoms), which call for joint research on this novel role invertebrates play in the functioning of stream ecosystems. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996