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Lateral view of a Male Baetis (Baetidae) (Blue-Winged Olive) Mayfly Dun from Mystery Creek #43 in New York
Blue-winged Olives
Baetis

Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.

Lateral view of a Male Baetidae (Blue-Winged Olive) Mayfly Dun from Mystery Creek #308 in Washington
This dun emerged from a mature nymph on my desk. Unfortunately its wings didn't perfectly dry out.
27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.
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Mayfly Species Procloeon insignificans (Tiny Sulphur Duns)

Where & when

Time of year : Summer

Species Range

Physical description

Most physical descriptions on Troutnut are direct or slightly edited quotes from the original scientific sources describing or updating the species, although there may be errors in copying them to this website. Such descriptions aren't always definitive, because species often turn out to be more variable than the original describers observed. In some cases, only a single specimen was described! However, they are useful starting points.

Male Spinner

Described in Needham et al (1935) as Cloeon insignificans
Body length: 3 mm
Wing length: 4 mm

Abdominal tergites 2-6 of male imago pale hyaline; short obsolescent ruddy geminate dorsal streaks on 2 and 3.

Eyes blackish brown. Head and thorax deep brown, almost unicolorous; sternum slightly paler. Legs whitish. Wings hyaline, venation pale. 5 to 6 cross veins in the stigmatic area; intercalaries absent from 1st and 2nd interspaces; 1st cross vein between radius and radial sector in a line with the second one. Abdominal segments 2-6 hyaline, wholly pale except for short ruddy mid-dorsal obsolescent streaks on tergites 2 and 3. Tergites 7-10 deep fawn brown, the sternites somewhat paler. Tails and forceps whitish. Plate between bases of forceps dome-shaped, its posterior margin convex.

This species may be separated from the allied C. rubropictum (now a synonym of Procloeon rubropictum) by the absence of red dots and black stigmatic markings, and the fawn-colored apical sternites.


Start a Discussion of Procloeon insignificans

References

  • Caucci, Al and Nastasi, Bob. 2004. Hatches II. The Lyons Press.
  • Needham, James G., Jay R. Traver, and Yin-Chi Hsu. 1935. The Biology of Mayflies. Comstock Publishing Company, Inc.

Mayfly Species Procloeon insignificans (Tiny Sulphur Duns)

Taxonomy
Species Range
Common Name
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