Mayfly Species Timpanoga hecuba (Great Red Quills)

Head light gray, smoky at base of ocelli; antennae yellow brown; upper portion of eye orange, lower portion gray. Prothorax pale, the pronotum yellow brown with smoky markings; mesonotum yellow brown, medium brown between the inner parapsidal furrows anterior to the transverse mesonotal groove and on the scutellum; metanotum medium brown, pleurae largely pale with some brown sclerites, especially the mesepisternum; thoracic sternum pale, furcisternal plates light brown, a dark stripe along the anterior margin of the mesosternum. Forelegs medium brown, the base of the femora and the tarsi paler; middle and hind legs yellow brown; basal tarsal segment medium brown. Wings hyaline, clouded along the costal margin; venation medium brown. Tergites smoky brown to reddish brown, the anterior and posterior margins pale; near the pleural margin is a pale spot surrounded by an irregular darker marking; a broad pale median stripe present; pleural fold with a fuscous stripe attaining neither the anterior nor posterior margins of the segment. Sternites with a broad reddish irregular transverse stripe arising from the middle of the pleural margin of each sternite and arching forward to near the anterior margin, if extensive this reddish stripe may have a pair of oblique pale paramedian patches and a pair of pale submedian spots within it; segments eight and nine with large postero-lateral projections, segments four to seven with irregular twisted projections. Genitalia as in Fig. 4. Cerci and terminal filament dark brown at base, becoming paler distally.

Similar to male except for usual sexual differences. All legs similar to middle and hind legs of male. Abdominal markings less conspicuous than in male. Apex of subanal plate rounded.

General color variable, light brown to medium brown. Head light brown and hairy, subquadrate in shape, and widest across the frontal shelf; antennae brown; eyes black. Pronotum widest at posterior margin; antero-lateral corner developed into a spine; a short spine on each side near the middle of the lateral margin; paired sub-median spines near the posterior margin. Mesonotum without spines. Coxae and trochanters reddish with long hairs and spicules on anterior surface; femora broad and prolonged apically into an acute spine; anterior and posterior margins lined with long hairs and spicules, with spicules on dorsal surface; tibiae light brown with dark band near middle; anterior and posterior margins lined with long hairs with a few spicules on dorsal surface; tarsi pale with wide dark band at proximal end and a dark spot on the distal end; claws dark and without denticles (Fig. 10). Abdomen extremely flattened, with or without paired spines on the tergites; lateral extensions prolonged into sharp sawtooth-like postero-lateral spines (Fig. 11), color reddish-brown with lateral extensions pale and tips of postero-lateral spines black. Sternites marked with wide reddish bands occupying the anterior half of the segment, postero-lateral spines two to nine with a wide dark oblique band. Cerci and terminal filament fringed with long hairs, color dark reddish-brown at base, paling distally, interrupted by a narrow dark basal band and a wide dark transverse band in the apical third.