Thursday, June 22, 2017

Paraleptophlebia strigula? An intriguing possibility


A follow-up to my two previous entries.  As I was putting my copy of Knopp and Cormier away this morning, I took another quick look at their descriptions (Mayflies, p. 269) and noticed that they list another species of Paraleptophlebia that is found in the East -- P. strigula.  They describe the nymph as follows:  1) tracheal branching on gills: absent; 2) posterolateral projections or spines: present on abdominal segment 9; and 3) abdominal markings: "dark streaks along body margin".   Those "dark streaks" rang a bell.  Have a look.


Absolutely.  But is there a posterolateral projection on segment 9?


Yes!  And nothing on 8.  Hmm....

One problem.  This is a species that is not attested in the state of Virginia.  Its provenance is from New England down to Ohio and Pennsylvania.  But then, we're awfully close to Pennsylvania, so I'd not be surprised to find it in some of our streams.

I'm trying to learn more from entomologists.  Let you know what I find.

_________________

(See the tail end of yesterday's entry for a correction to my description of P. guttata.)

No comments:

Post a Comment