Thursday, July 25, 2013

Paraleptophlebia guttata and Paraleptophlebia mollis: Pronggilled mayflies in local streams


Based on photos by Donald Chandler -- a reliable specialist -- posted on "Discover Life," I suspect that the pronggilled mayfly that I found today is Paraleptophlebia guttata.  Please look at the following page: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?see=I_DSC155&res=640.



And based on photos by Tom Murray posted on "Bugguide.net,"  I would have to conclude that the pronggilled nymphs I most commonly find are Paraleptophlebia mollis. (See: http://bugguide.net/node/view/263140/bgimage.)




Both species are found in North Carolina.  (Beaty, "The Ephemeroptera of North Carolina," p. 40)

The only safe way to establish species ID, however, is to key out specific anatomical features. These identifications should be seen as tentative until I can find some way to do that.   In the meantime I have noted these names in our EPT list.

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