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.

Middle Fork Snoqualmie

From the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River in Washington

Stream photos

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Neoleptophlebia Mayfly Nymph Neoleptophlebia Mayfly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Neoleptophlebia (Leptophlebiidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

Some characteristics from the microscope images for the tentative species id: The postero-lateral projections are found only on segment 9, not segment 8. Based on the key in Jacobus et al. (2014), it appears to key to Neoleptophlebia adoptiva or Neoleptophlebia heteronea, same as this specimen with pretty different abdominal markings. However, distinguishing between those calls for comparing the lengths of the second and third segment of the labial palp, and this one (like the other one) only seems to have two segments. So I'm stuck on them both. It's likely that the fact that they're immature nymphs stymies identification in some important way.

10 Recently Added Photos

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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Male Rhithrogena morrisoni (Western March Brown) Mayfly Spinner Pictures

Lateral view of a Male Rhithrogena morrisoni (Heptageniidae) (Western March Brown) Mayfly Spinner from the South Fork Snoqualmie River in Washington

Dorsal view of a Male Rhithrogena morrisoni (Heptageniidae) (Western March Brown) Mayfly Spinner from the South Fork Snoqualmie River in Washington

Male Rhithrogena morrisoni (Heptageniidae) (Western March Brown) Mayfly Spinner from the South Fork Snoqualmie River in Washington

Ventral view of a Male Rhithrogena morrisoni (Heptageniidae) (Western March Brown) Mayfly Spinner from the South Fork Snoqualmie River in Washington

Ruler view of a Male Rhithrogena morrisoni (Heptageniidae) (Western March Brown) Mayfly Spinner from the South Fork Snoqualmie River in Washington The smallest ruler marks are 1/16".

This mayfly was collected from the South Fork Snoqualmie River in Washington on June 22nd, 2017 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on June 23rd, 2017.

Discussions of this Spinner

Second opinions on this one's ID?

3 replies

Posted by Troutnut on Jun 23, 2017

Last reply on Jul 5, 2017 by Crepuscular

I tentatively keyed it out to Rhithrogena morrisoni based on Needham's Biology of Mayflies, but I'm not completely sure. Roger's website lists Rhithrogena emerging in Washington in March and April, and this one was collected June 22nd. But this did come from high up in a mountain stream after a year of very heavy snowpack, so it might be that far behind schedule. It also looks very much like the specimen Bob Newell posted from eastern Washington. What do Roger and others think?

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References

Jacobus, L. M., Wiersema, N.A., and Webb, J.M. 2014. Identification of Far Northern and Western North American Mayfly Larvae (Insecta: Ephemeroptera), North of Mexico; Version 2. Joint Aquatic Science meeting, Portland, OR. Unpublished workshop manual. 1-176.