capniid with reduced wings - what genus? - Utacapnia trava

Moved

Moved from Utacapnia.

Joseph kindly sent me other specimens of this species. After examination of the epiproct, I am convinced this specimen and the ones I have examined belong to the species Utacapnia trava Nebeker and Gaufin. I'll have to ask around, but these specimens may represent a state record for Washington. The presence in the northeastern part of the state shouldn't be a surprise as the species has been reported in Boundary County, Idaho and Flathead County, Montana as well as Banff National Park in Alberta.

Way to go, Joe!

… Brady Richards, 18 January, 2013 - 10:36pm

Moved

Moved from Small Winter Stoneflies.

In the magnified view, you can see the epiproct (external genitalia) so this is a male. It appears to me that the epiproct has two prongs. Your arrow in the other picture is pointing at the upper prong, which is shorter than the lower prong. I can't make out the detail on the upper prong, so I don't think I can get a species ID from the photos.

… Brady Richards, 11 March, 2011 - 11:51pm

Utacapnia

Thank you for looking at this. When I return home in a couple of days I will attempt to take and post a better photograph of the area in question. Thanks for the genus ID.

… Joe, 12 March, 2011 - 1:28am

No problem. [i]Utacapnia[/i]

No problem. Utacapnia is a cool critter. I haven't seen too many of them, thanks for posting these. If you do take additional photos, a dorsal shot of the upper prong of the epiproct would be good, as well as an additional lateral shot showing the entire epiproct.

… Brady Richards, 12 March, 2011 - 10:44am

Utacapnia epiproct

Brady, I'm posting two additional images. The first is a lateral shot. I've labeled what I believe is the epiproct as 'e.' What appears to be a groove below the epiproct and which appeared to be another fork of the epiproct in the previous image I've labeled "g."
The second image is a sketch I made, and photographed, of a dorsal view of the epiproct. It is adapted from a camera lucida drawing I made.

… Joe, 13 March, 2011 - 1:04am

Nice drawing of the upper pro

Nice drawing of the upper process of the epiproct. I was using the term "prong" in error, by the way. I should have said "upper process" and "lower process" of the epiproct instead. Sorry about that

Can you tell me how long each process is in relation to the other? I don't need an exact measurement, just something along the lines of they are equal in length or the lower process is over twice the length of the upper, etc. Also, what is the relative width of each process? Is the lower process considerably narrower than the upper or is it wider?

… Brady Richards, 13 March, 2011 - 1:39pm

Utacapnia epiproct

Thanks - I was happy with the way the sketch turned out, but I do want to practice & get better with the drawing tube.
The upper process is 0.5 mm long, and the lower 0.63 mm long. The lower process is significantly wider than the upper process. Here I'm using "upper process" to mean the process I drew in the sketch and labeled 'e' in the photo, and "lower process" to mean what I labeled as 'g' in the photo.

… Joe, 13 March, 2011 - 6:43pm

Utacapnia

Thanks Brady. Will do.

… Joe, 12 March, 2011 - 11:42am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Brady Richards, 11 March, 2011 - 3:57pm

Very interesting. Did you hap

Very interesting. Did you happen to take a closer shot of the last couple abdominal segments?

… Brady Richards, 11 March, 2011 - 2:39am

Last 2 segments of capniid

I have just posted a closer shot of the last two segments. In this picture, I've inserted an arrow pointing to a long thin, I believe flattened structure that arches over those last two segments from the posterior apex of the last segment - genitalia? It doesn't come out too clearly in this picture though.

… Joe, 11 March, 2011 - 7:39pm