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Photo#196148
big eyed mayfly?

big eyed mayfly?
kennett square, chester County, Pennsylvania, USA
June 30, 2008
Size: 2cm

Moved
Moved from Mayflies.

Looks like...
a male imago of the Ephemerellidae. The timing suggests that it might be Ephemerella dorothea dorothea, but there are a few other possibilities (and probably no way to be certain without minute inspection of the genitalia). The body length (head to tip of abdomen) was most likely in the 6-9mm range, so I assume that your measurement included tails or forelegs.

 
I have
reared E. doro*thea, and it is a yellow species as an imago. Thoughtlessly I have not photographed it though I have had several opportunities. IF the size gets reduced down to 6-9 mm, I would go with a Serr*atella of some sort.

 
That's a good thought
The only Serratella species that I'm really familiar with is deficiens. Because the ones that I see are nearly black, I think that "colors" my impression of Serratella and I tend not to think about the other species.

Another possibility might be that this could be part of an extended invaria hatch. In places with really heavy populations, like some of the spring creeks in Southcentral PA, they hatch well through July and get smaller as the hatching period progresses. The later-hatching invaria are often confused for dorothea, but Luke Jacobus once told me that dorothea dorothea is mostly found in mountainous (or formerly mountainous) areas. An accurate size and perhaps the name of the stream it was associated with would help.

male
large eyes mean it's a male.

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