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3. Lots of new specimens today (June 4th) from PA

I spent 5 days last week going around Pennsylvania fishing some of the famous rivers there in both the central limestone region and the Poconos. I also met and/or fished with Gonzo, Martinlf, and Shawnny3 from this forum, which was really fun. Along the way I collected lots of interesting new bugs for the site, and I just finished putting them online. I'll try to work on the IDs tonight but, as usual, I would welcome any help.

Here are the new specimens, ordered by location:

Collected in Catskills, hatched in aquarium

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/731 - Female Baetisca obesa mayfly dun.

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/732 - Adult Perlid stonefly

Central limestone region of PA

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/733 - Maccaffertium mediopunctatum female dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/734 - Male Ephemerella dorothea dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/735 - Female Ephemerella dorothea dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/736 - Male Ephemera guttulata spinner (Coffin Fly)

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/737 - Male Ephemerella dorothea dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/738 - Isonychia bicolor dun (interesting because of the white stripe down the back in the dun, not just the nymph)

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/739 - Ephemerella dorothea spinner

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/740 - Male Ephemerella spinner

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/741 - Male Epeorus spinner

Poconos

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/742 - Female Drunella lata spinner

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/743 - Male Ephemerella dorothea dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/744 - Unidentified caddis adult

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/745 - Unidentified female Ephemerella spinner

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/746 - Peltoperlidae stonefly adult

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/747 - Male Epeorus dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/748 - Female Maccaffertium spinner

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/749 - Male Epeorus spinner

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/750 - Female Heptageniid spinner

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/751 - Hydropsychid caddisfly

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/752 - Male Drunella lata dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/753 - Female Drunella lata dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/754 - Male adult Nigronia serricornis fishfly

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/755 - Male Baetid dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/756 - Perlid stonefly adult

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/757 - Inchworm

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/758 - Caddis pupa?? This thing is really strange.

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/759 - Little green stonefly - Chloroperlidae?

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/760 - Big cranefly - Tipulidae?

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/761 - Baetid nymph

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/762 - Drunella lata nymph

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/763 - Cinygmula nymph

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/764 - Maccaffertium nymph, probably mediopunctatum

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/765 - Maccaffertium dun of the same species as the nymph above, probably mediopunctatum

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/766 - Ephemerella dorothea nymph

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/767 - Paragnetina immarginata stonefly nymph

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/768 - Corydalus hellgrammite

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/769 - Female Baetid mayfly dun

Back to the Catskills

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/770 - Psilotreta labida caddis adult

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/771 - Green drake dun (Ephemera guttulata)

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/772 - Ephemerella septentrionalis mayfly dun

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/773 - Male Ephemerellid dun - Serratella?

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/774 - Female coffin fly (Ephemera guttulata spinner)

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/775 - Female Paraleptophlebia dun

A few notes:

• I identified several duns as Ephemerella dorothea as a guess based on size. The nymph, however, I carefully keyed out.


• All the Drunella specimens belong to the form of Drunella lata formerly known as Drunella cornuta.


• All the Baetids come from nearly identical nymphs I collected (the two duns hatched in my sorting bowl) so they're probably the same species.


• I've got a few new Maccaffertium specimens I'm guessing are mediopunctatum. I'm saying that for the nymph based on the postero-lateral projections on abdominal segments anterior to 6, and on the color pattern on the sternites. It's not quite what I've seen in keys for that species, or in my older specimens, but I think it's the closest possibility. I've labeled the male dun as that species because it hatched from a nearly identical nymph. And I'm labeling the female dun because she has about the same color pattern as the male. She is a couple mm larger, though, which makes me question this ID.
  

Jason,
Very impressive collection!

Two questions.........

1. Are the duns and spinners alive when you photograph them?
2. Did you get time to fish ?

Thank you,
John

Most of them are alive when I shoot them. I sometimes photograph dead bugs, but it's usually only if I don't have any live ones and they haven't been dead for too long.

Collecting bugs doesn't cut into my fishing time very much, because I usually just scoop them up off the water (or out of the air) when they drift by while I'm fishing. Photographing them is the really time-consuming part, but that doesn't cut into my fishing time -- it cuts into my sleeping time!

Which paper did you use on the Ephemerella that you "carefully keyed out"? Just curious...

Allen & Edmunds. I know it's a bit old, but this one seems to fit dorothea very neatly. Is there a better source?

I do have a couple of the more recent revision papers, but as far as I know they wouldn't affect this ID.

dorothea/excrucians nymphs are tough to tell apart. lots of things will key really easily and neatly with Allen & Edmunds' key, but the result can be wrong. if you're cautious, the shape of the claw can work sometimes to sort out the two nymphs. but even that can be sketchy.

Looking at the two specimens that Jason has listed from 5/29/07 (E. dorothea) and 6/9/05 ( E. excrucians)..... the leg markings and the dorsal (segments) look quite different!
They don't seem similar at all...... what am I missing here ?

John...

E. excrucians, and probably to a lesser extent E. dorothea, can show some extreme color variation within single populations.

Konchu,
Well, that would make things even more confusing then!
I was aware of color variations from different streams/regions, but not within a local area.
OK....... still learning!

Thanks....
John