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Family Heptageniidae - Flatheaded Mayflies

Mayfly Mar 28 - Maccaffertium mexicanum - male

Pennsylvania Mayfly for ID - Epeorus vitreus

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)

Suborder Pisciforma

Superfamily Heptagenioidea

Family Heptageniidae (Flatheaded Mayflies)

Numbers

126 spp. in 16 genera in our area(1), >600 spp. in 33 genera worldwide(2)

Identification

Base of m2 in FW nearly straight. Cubital intercalaries in FW in 2 parallel pairs. R4+5 in HW forked. Hind tarsi 5-segmented. Nymphs are flattened and streamlined. Adults are medium-sized to small, usually clear-winged.(3)

Keys to genera in(4)(5)(6)

Range

worldwide & throughout NA(1)(2)

Habitat

Nymphs on the underside of stones/logs in shallow, rapid streams or in lakes(7)

Works Cited

1.	Mayfly Central

2.	Barber-James H., Sartori M., Gattolliat J-L., Webb J. (2013) World checklist of freshwater Ephemeroptera species

3.	A Field Guide to Insects Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson. 1998. Houghton Mifflin Co.

4.	Aquatic Insects of North America R. W. Merritt, K. W. Cummins, M.B. Berg. 2008. Kendall/Hunt.

5.	Heptageniidae of the World. Part II: Key to the genera J.M. Webb and W.P. McCafferty. 2008. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, 7, 55 pp.

6.	Freshwater macroinvertebrates of Northeastern North America Peckarsky, B. L., P. Fraissinet, M. A. Penton, and D. J. Conklin, Jr. 1990. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

7.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

Contributed by Tony DiTerlizzi on 27 June, 2005 - 6:08am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Taxon, v belov
Last updated 19 June, 2024 - 12:15pm

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