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Photo#395856
stonefly - Isoperla similis

stonefly - Isoperla similis
Shirley, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
May 14, 2010
Size: 12mm bl

Just realized
that the one I am having trouble with is this image from 2012: http://bugguide.net/node/view/627715/bgimage, which I identified as nr. similis. However, the abdomen of true similis is dark grey top and bottom, and the males have the last two tergites whitish. This one from 2010 looks to have the abdomen orangish, and these two may well be the same.

Moved
Moved from Perlodid Stoneflies.
Don, I'll look for some of the adults to keep alive for you. What about all the other adult images under Isoperla similis, that are a different species. Where should they be moved to?

Tom
If you catch any more of these, see if you can keep them alive until you can drop them off. I would dearly love to get a live male.

from Lloyd Gonzales:
"Perlodidae. This looks exactly as I would expect an Isoperla similis adult to look, and is an extremely good match for all of the descriptions that I have found—Hagen’s 1861 original, Needham and Claassen (1925), and Frison (1942). Your nymphs will match the others under I. similis, but I believe that all of the adult specimens currently on that page are actually misplaced Perlesta (Perlidae)."

Tom, this is an actionable and consequential comment, and i hope you will get to the bottom of it with Don and move stuff to/from as appropriate. =v=
Moved from Stoneflies.

 
Having second thoughts
I just realized that I had reared some Isoperla similis over the past two weeks (I've been busy with classes), and their abdomens are a rather darkish grey beneath - fitting their common name of the black stripetail. Tom's specimen is a female that has a bright orange abdomen, with a row of dark spots on the side. In struggling to place the darkish adults to species, I just realized that my id of similis for this one with the orange abdomen was way off.
The orange-bottomed one seems to be a perlodid, but I know not which one. Unfortunately I don't have any decent generic key here. The specimen is about 19 mm long to wing tips, at least 14 mm for body length - a decent size for a perlodid - pretty big for an Isoperla.
Perhaps Lloyd may have an opinion in light of my comments.

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