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Lateral view of a Female Hexagenia limbata (Ephemeridae) (Hex) Mayfly Dun from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin
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.

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 Cinygmula tarda

Where & when

In 1 records from GBIF, adults of this species have been collected during August (100%).

In 2 records from GBIF, this species has been collected at elevations of 4524 and 9193 ft.

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

Body length: 7 mm
Wing length: 7.5 mm

A small species with untinted wings; a spine on inner margin of penes only; dark mid-ventral ganglionic marks.

Head light wood-brown; bases of antennae ochreous; eyes dull greenish in living insect, almost contiguous. Often slight reddish or purplish shading next to the eyes. Thorax light brown; yellowish ochre shading on mesonotum anterior to scutellum, and on the anterior portions of the metanotum. Legs pale brown. Wings hyaline, untinted. Cross veins “in the basal half pale, indistinct, darker and better defined in the apical area, especially the costal ones” (McD.). Abdominal segments 2-7 hyaline; tergites light brown on posterior half or third, the postero-lateral corners darker; anterior portions of each tergite pale hyaline. Sternites pale with brown oval ganglionic markings. Segments 8-10 opaque; tergites light brown, sternites deep ochreous. Penes with a short spine on inner margins only (see fig. 103). Tails dirty white.

This species is allied to Cinygmula mimus and Cinygmula ramaleyi, by the type of genitalia. Differs from both of these in structural characters of genitalia and in the untinted wings.

Specimens of the Mayfly Species Cinygmula tarda

1 Male Dun
1 Female Dun
1 Male Spinner
1 Female Spinner

Start a Discussion of Cinygmula tarda

References

  • Mayo, V.K. 1952. New Western Ephemeroptera, IV, With Notes. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist 28(4): 179-186.
  • Needham, James G., Jay R. Traver, and Yin-Chi Hsu. 1935. The Biology of Mayflies. Comstock Publishing Company, Inc.
  • Slater, J. and Kondratieff, B.C. 2004. Review of the Mayfly Genus Cinygmula McDunnough (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae) in Colorado. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 77(2): 121-126.

Mayfly Species Cinygmula tarda

Species Range
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