» Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
8 families (Acanthametropodidae, Ametropodidae, Arthropleidae, Behningiidae, Euthyplociidae, Oligoneuriidae, Palingeniidae, Pseudironidae)
aren't included.
Common Name
This is page 45 of specimens of Ephemeroptera. Visit the main Ephemeroptera page for:
- The behavior and habitat of Ephemeroptera.
- 67 underwater pictures of Ephemeroptera.
Pictures of 828 Mayfly Specimens:
Male Heptagenia culacantha Mayfly Spinner
View 1 PicturesThis photo was provided by guide Eric Naguski along with the following comments, "I took this photo just upstream of Three Mile Island on the east shore of the Susquehanna River just below where the Swatara Creek enters. The Susquehanna is not an easy river to sample for bugs in my opinion. It is very large and pushes a lot of water. Especially in the spring when you would collect mature culacantha nymphs. And I don't believe that there are a ton of these Heptageniids around. Also the people who are doing most of the sampling like myself are doing so for water quality monitoring work so they only take the specimens down to genus-level taxonomy". Male Ephemerella aurivillii Mayfly Dun
View 7 PicturesThis dun was collected in proximity to this spinner, and to this female that looks like the same species.
Among western species, it most closely resembles Ephemerella aurivillii, of which I reared a specimen from a positively-identified nymph and photographed the male dun previously in Alaska. In the photos, this dun does not seem to have the same evidence of the nymph's dorsal (Dorsal: Top.) stripe, but that's due to the lighting. A faint stripe is apparent under the microscope, as it is in the female linked above.
They do appear to be a bit short for aurivillii, with the male at 8 mm and the female at 9 mm, but the spinners could be a bit longer.
Among the other Ephemerella mayflies documented in Montana, Ephemerella alleni and Ephemerella mucronata are the only two others that seem to not be ruled out.