» Family Heptageniidae (March Browns, Cahills, Quill Gordons)
4 genera (Anepeorus, Macdunnoa, Raptoheptagenia, Spinadis)
aren't included.
Common Name
This is page 2 of specimens of Heptageniidae. Visit the main Heptageniidae page for:
- The behavior and habitat of Heptageniidae.
- 11 underwater pictures of Heptageniidae.
Pictures of 215 Mayfly Specimens in the Family Heptageniidae:
Male Epeorus pleuralis (Quill Gordon) Mayfly Spinner
View 10 PicturesI spent (Spent: The wing position of many aquatic insects when they fall on the water after mating. The wings of both sides lay flat on the water. The word may be used to describe insects with their wings in that position, as well as the position itself.) most of the day looking for Epeorus pluralis duns or spinners without any luck on the major Catskill rivers. Finally in the evening I arrived at a small stream somebody had recommended, and when I got out of the car I was happy to find that I had parked in the middle of a cloud of male spinners. Male Epeorus (Little Maryatts) Mayfly Spinner
View 10 PicturesThis spinner and hundreds of others like it were dancing over the road through a very narrow valley carved by a tiny, steep tributary of the trout stream I was fishing. I got strange looks from a few passers-by, standing around on the road with a butterfly net... Male Rhithrogena virilis Mayfly Spinner
View 12 PicturesI'm fairly sure this is a specimen of Rhithrogena virilis based on closeup examination of the reproductive anatomy under the microscope (not shown in photos). The other other species of Rhithrogena this large is Rhithrogena flavianula, but the key in Needham's Biology of Mayflies mentions annulation in the abdomen (visible in some images on bugguide.net) more distinct than that on this specimen.
The body and front wing were both about 15.5 mm long, while the cerci (Cercus: The left and right "tails" of an insect are known as the cerci or caudal cerci. The middle tail of a three-tailed insect is not.) were 40 mm long.