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Photo#291097
tiny mayfly and exuvia - right side

tiny mayfly and exuvia - right side
World Birding Center at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Hidalgo County, Texas, USA
October 3, 2008
Perched on the outside of the park's van, which was parked in the maintenance yard, not so far from the light that attracts so many of my BugGuide posts.

I want to call this critter a Baetid, but am not sure how to rule out Ephemerellid or other possibly similar families, much less getting it to species.

Was surprised by how far from water the larva crawled before the adult emerged. I am used to odonata, which usually emerge within inches or less of the water's surface.

Images of this individual: tag all
tiny mayfly and exuvia - right side tiny mayfly and exuvia - left side tiny mayfly and exuvia - dorsal view

Moved
Moved from Mayflies. Thanks Lloyd!

Baetidae, male imago
This might be something in Procloeon or Centroptilum, but that is speculation based on the venation of the forewings and the apparent absence of hind wings. The larva did not crawl to that location; the shed pellicle is that of the preadult winged stage or subimago. Although the nymphs of a few genera/species crawl out onto waterside rocks or vegetation to emerge, most mayflies emerge into the subimago stage at or under the surface of the water.

As for your question about identification to family, the turbinate eyes of the males and hind wings that are either minute or absent are a few of the more obvious traits that help to identify adult baetids. (Provided that it is intact, ephemerellids would have a terminal filament in addition to the two cerci in both the subimago and imago. They also have conspicuous hind wings.) Unless someone was very familiar with this particular species (I am not), getting your specimen to species would probably require comparing the genitalia to keyed features/illustrations.

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