Hex Mayflies
Hexagenia limbata
The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large Brown Trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.
Featured forum activity
Mayfly Species Drunella coloradensis (Small Western Green Drake)
This species is very similar to Drunella flavilinea. In areas where their ranges overlap, they can sometimes be found in the same streams. Allen and Edmunds (1962) say that Drunella coloradensis tends to favor colder water than Drunella flavilinea and that it may emerge as much as a month later.
Where & when
According to Fred Arbona, this species requires streams which never exceed 60°F, and this limits them to small streams at high altitude.Specimens of the Mayfly Species Drunella coloradensis
8 Nymphs
This one nicely illustrates the variation in coloration within an single Ephemerellid species in a single stream, when compared to its lighter, banded counterpart.
This one nicely illustrates the variation in coloration within an single Ephemerellid species in a single stream, when compared to its darker, more uniform counterpart.
1 Male Dun
The positive species ID on this dun comes from both the spinner that it (or possibly one other dun just like it) molted into and the overwhelming abundance of nymphs of this species in my kicknet samples from the same site.
1 Male Spinner
This spinner molted from this dun, or possibly one other dun I had in the same container that looked just like it.
Comment on Drunella coloradensis:
You can quickly and easily register to post comments.References
- Arbona, Fred Jr. 1989. Mayflies, the Angler, and the Trout. Nick Lyons Books.
- Knopp, Malcolm and Robert Cormier. 1997. Mayflies: An Angler's Study of Trout Water Ephemeroptera . The Lyons Press.
Taxonomy
Kingdom
Animalia (Animals)
» Phylum
Arthropoda (Arthropods)
» Class
Insecta (Insects)
» Order
Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
» Genus
Drunella (Blue-Winged Olives)
» Species coloradensis (Small Western Green Drake)
Species Range
Common Names
Resources
- NatureServe
- ITIS
- Described by Dodds (1923)