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3. yellowish possibly night hatching mayfly

I took this photo on June 26 after checking my street light early one morning. I'm having a heck of a time figuring this one out. I'm thinking maybe Ephemerella dorothea dorothea or some sort of Anthopotamus but I haven't found any matches at all. The body was maybe 1/2-3/4" The photo was taken in the southwest Virginia mountains.

Beautiful photo! Shows great detail. I don't think i is dorothea. It seems a little late in the year.

Mark

Hi Aefloyd -

That's an Anthopotamus distinctus female subimago (dun) (Commonly known to anglers as Potamanthus or Golden Drake)

Welcome to the forum!

Regards,

Kurt

Thanks - I've still got my old film macro lens that can take some beautiful shots but being that it is for SLRs it has an extremely shallow depth of field making it impossible to get the entire critter in focus. The beauty of those SLRs seems to be the down fall in this case.

Yeah, I didn't find any examples of dorothea that really matched, but I didn't really find any others either :(

Any clue when distinctus hatches, time of day?

Glad to be here!

Aaron

I agree with Mark. No to E dorothea...Their wings are solidly light dun/cream without the "hash-marks"...Did Potamanthus distinctus keep the distinctus when it switched over to your second guess Anthropotamus? That's my guess. Where's Roger when we need him? :)

Spence

Kurt...Do you live here? :) You must have a beeper or something that goes off when a new(ish) bug shows up here. You beat me to the draw.

Spence

I wish I had been down by the river that day! That looks to have been a nice hatch.

Ah.. you cut me to the quick, dear friend. That's not a second guess, it's an update. Potamtanthus was changed to Anthopotamus by those pesky entomologists while I was dealing with goblins at the door.:)

Regards,

Kurt

Wish I would have been there to! I never saw the hatch or know when it took place. I can check my lights at about 11PM or at sunrise and find them there. Often I check the lights before going to work and end up with torturous images of mayflies swimming in my head all day long!!

I hear you brother...A hatch like that and I would of called in sick! :)

The only time I've seen them here was in a stockie pond near Detroit here...I was in a float tube, as was a good friend of mine. He looked at me and asked if I happened to have any Robert's Yellow-Drakes on me...I have returned to that pond every year there-after and never saw them again(?)

Welcome aboard by-the-way...

I grew up down in the "tide-water" of Norfolk VA until I was 9...Left VA 1963...

Spence

Spense - Yes and yes (until Jason starts charging me rent).

Aafloyd - They are closely related to the Ephemeridae (Green Drake and Hex) That are tusked and fringed-gilled as nymphs but they do not burrow like their cousins. Instead they live in shallow little depressions of fine sand or silt. They typically inhabit med. to large rivers usually too warm for trout and hatch in the evening.

A curious thing about the name change: They used to be in the family Ephemeridae with the genus name Potamanthus. They have been re-classified into a new genus Anthopotamus and placed in a new family, the Potamanthidae. So, it is correct to call them potamanthids but not Potamanthus. Confused a little? Sorry about that (no wonder latin gets a bad rap). This mayfly is one of the most beautiful and graceful in North America. Speaking of latin, potamanthus translates into "river flower". Who says Scientists can't be poets?:)

Awesome - thank you guys for the help and warm welcome! So Anthopotamus distinctus it is.

I do typically see these with the Hexagenia limbata nearby. I also can affirm that the section of stream they both come out of holds the trifecta of eastern trout. I live just above an old dam so I'm assuming they (Hex) are burrowing in the silty area above it, and so Anthropotamus distinctus would be in the same habitat.

Not at all, it’s clear as mud.



Which begs the question, what of Anthropotamus?

Spence-



The truth be known, I was returning DVD rentals to Safeway. Incidentally, I agree with Kurt that the genus is Anthopotamus, and that it's a dun (subimago). However, I believe (based on eye location on the head) that it's actually a male.

Allan -
Spence is right - where's Roger when we need him? I'll do my best with a poor imitation:

1. The new family name for this specimen is Potamanthidae. Therefore it is correct to call specimens within the family potamanthids (like specimens of the Baetidae family can be referred to as baetids).

2. The new genus name for this specimen is Anthopotamus therefor it would be incorrect to refer to this specimen as a member of the genus Potamanthus (especially since this genus name is no longer valid).

3. It is not "Anthro-" it is "Antho-". Don't know where the "r" came from; sorry about that. I believe it translates roughly the same though, as "Antho" also means flower.

Editor note: The name thing is still weird and confusing for this critter. Imagine if the families Ephemerellidae and Baetidae no longer had the valid genus names Ephemerella and Baetis in them?:)

Kurt

Hi roger -

Ah .. there you are.


At first I thought so too, but the specimen seems a little light in the special equipment.

Regards,

Kurt

Good point, Kurt, I must have been suffering from tunnel vision. :-)

Roger,

I can't relate since it's never happened to me.:):) Remember that C. pictus critter last week? That was the photographers fault....

Regards,

Kurt

Kurt-

Thanks for the reminder? :-)

Yeah, I wouldn't have missed those speckled wings if the guy had taken a better picture!:) That's my story and I'm sticking to it.