Cream Variants

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Scientific Names

Match	Scientific Name
	Anthopotamus distinctus
	Ephemera varia
	Epeorus vitreus

Like most common names, "Cream Variant" can refer to more than one taxon. They're previewed below, along with 6 specimens. For more detail click through to the scientific names.

Mayfly Species Anthopotamus distinctus

These are sometimes called Cream Variants.

Mayfly Species Ephemera varia

These are very rarely called Cream Variants.

This is an excellent hatch of a different character than its Ephemera brethren. Rather than emerging in a flurry of activity within a week, the Ephemera varia flies may last for more than a month in a single place.

Ephemera varia (Yellow Drake) Mayfly Nymph

View 4 Pictures

Collected March 29, 2006 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 6, 2006

Female Ephemera varia (Yellow Drake) Mayfly Dun

View 7 PicturesThis yellow drake dun hatched out of my aquarium over a month before her brethren in the wild are slated to emerge. She seems a bit small, and that might be the reason.

Collected May 13, 2007 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on May 18, 2007

Female Ephemera varia (Yellow Drake) Mayfly Spinner

View 6 PicturesI found this female spinner ovipositing in a small stream. She came along while I was playing a trout -- every good bug seemed to do that last night! I didn't have my bug net, so I caught the trout in my landing net, released the trout, and caught the mayfly in my landing net. Her wing got a bit messed up from that.

Collected July 7, 2006 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on July 8, 2006

Mayfly Species Epeorus vitreus

These are very rarely called Cream Variants.

This is the second most common Epeorus species in the East and Midwest. Most anglers will encounter sporadic hatches of Epeorus vitreus once in a while, and sometimes a more concentrated emergence causes a good rise of fish.

Epeorus vitreus (Sulphur) Mayfly Nymph

View 6 Pictures

Collected February 7, 2004 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on January 25, 2006

Male Epeorus vitreus (Sulphur) Mayfly Dun

View 4 PicturesThis is my favorite mayfly from 2004, and it appears on my popular Be the Trout: Eat Mayflies products. Check them out!

Its identification is really up in the air. It might be a late-season vitreus dun but it may very well be one of the more obscure species in that genus.

Collected September 2, 2004 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on January 25, 2006

Female Epeorus vitreus (Sulphur) Mayfly Spinner

View 9 Pictures

Collected September 19, 2006 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on October 4, 2006

See 12 more specimens...

Jargon Defined:

Dun: Mayflies have two adult stages. They first emerge from the water as duns (scientifically known as the subimago stage). They then molt into the spinner (imago) stage, in which they mate and die. Sometimes the word "dun" is confusingly used to refer to a brownish gray color in fly tying materials.

Emergence: The transformation of a nymph or pupa into the adult winged stage of an insect. The term may refer to the emergence of an individual, or the daily or yearly event in which all individuals of a species emerge.

Ovipositing: To lay eggs.

Spinner: There are two winged stages of adult mayflies. They emerge from the water as duns, molt on land (usually) into their fully mature stage, spinners. As spinners, they mate, lay eggs, and die.