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JarrodRuggles

good pics of march brown nymph

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QUOTE (JarrodRuggles @ Apr 26 2005, 07:37 PM)
looking for pictures of the different stages of the march brown..any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jarrod-

 

March Brown is the common name for numerous mayfly species. If you lived in a western state, it would likely be Rhithrogena morrisoni. However, in the southeast, it is likely Stenonema vicarium, which has recently been reclassified as Maccafertium vicarium, but that's another story.

 

In any event, the best way to access insect photos on the internet is to Google Images on the scientific name, which in this case would be Stenonema vicarium. When you do that, you will pull up a bunch of thumbnail photos of nymphs, duns, and spinners.

 

Pictures found on the internet should be assumed to be copyright protected. Therefore, using them for any commercial purpose without specific prior permission is unwise.

 

Hope this helps.

 

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Thanks I did see some pics that look like the ones i saw. I have broke my back trying to catch them things and finally catched something and a something. Pretty sure there both mayflies.

 

There both pretty bad crippled cause I just bout had to jump on em to get them...well here they are...Help identifiying them is greatly appriecated!

 

 

 

 

user posted image

 

This ones wing is messed up and its tails are missing. It did have very long tails

though.

 

 

 

 

user posted image

 

A few legs are missing on this and its tails are also missing.

 

 

I know it would be easier to identify these with everything on them...

 

Thanks if you can help me,

 

Jarrod

 

 

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Okay Jarrod, I’ll attempt to talk you through what I see with each specimen. That way, you and any others interested will learn something about what to look for.

 

Specimen 1

 

- It has wings, so it is must be the adult stage of some insect.

- The wings are held erect above the abdomen, so it must be a mayfly.

- The wings are clear (or hyaline) so it must be a spinner (imago).

- The eyes dominate the head, and the forelegs are extremely long, and it has claspers (or forceps) at the end of its abdomen, so it must be a male.

 

Okay, so far we know that it’s a male mayfly spinner.

 

- It would have been useful if we knew whether it had 2 or three tails.

- We can see the hind wings are good sized in comparison to the larger fore wings, so this eliminates those mayflies having no hind wings or minute hind wings.

- Species of mayflies differ in length from about 3 mm to about 37 mm, so it would be useful to know the approximate length as measured from the front of the head to the end of the abdomen, not including the tails.

 

Specimen 2

 

- It has wings, so it is must be the adult stage of some insect.

- The wings are held erect above the abdomen, so it must be a mayfly.

- The wings are not clear (or hyaline) so it must be a dun (subimago).

-The eyes don’t dominate the head, and the forelegs are not extremely long, and it (probably didn’t) have claspers (or forceps) at the end of its abdomen, so it must be a female.

 

Okay, so far we know that it’s a female mayfly dun.

 

- It would have been useful if we knew whether it had 2 or three tails.

- We can see the hind wings are good sized in comparison to the larger fore wings, so this eliminates those mayflies having no hind wings or minute hind wings.

- Species of mayflies differ in length from about 3 mm to about 37 mm, so it would be useful to know the approximate length as measured from the front of the head to the end of the abdomen, not including the tails.

 

Before I go any further with this process, let me ask you some questions.

 

1) How many tails do you believe the 1st specimen had? (2 or 3)

 

2) How long would you estimate the 1st specimen was?

 

3) How many tails do you believe the 2nd specimen had? (2 or 3)

 

4) How long would you estimate 2nd specimen was?

 

I expect some reading this post already know (or suspect) what species one (or both) of Jarrod’s specimens are. However, I would ask you not to say at this point, so we can go through a logical progression, and perhaps all learn a little from it.

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ok...

 

I THINK, that the first had two very long tails approximately twice as long as the body. It looks to be about 10 mm long.

 

 

I really cant remeber how many the second one had but I think it was also two. It looks to be about 11 mm long.

 

Jarrod

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Thanks Taxon!! I think this topic will be interesting to a lot of us... People tell me the stream I fish in Arkansas has march browns... and I think I've seen the nymphs before... but I couldn't really tell why.

 

Definately be watching this one....

 

Chucky smile.gif

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yeah there are definately march browns all over the place. Most the nymphs you see are march browns. I was just thinking that one of these might have been an adult.

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QUOTE (chucky @ Apr 28 2005, 04:02 PM)
Thanks Taxon!! I think this topic will be interesting to a lot of us... People tell me the stream I fish in Arkansas has march browns... and I think I've seen the nymphs before... but I couldn't really tell why.

Definately be watching this one....

Chucky smile.gif

Chucky-

 

Thanks, it's interesting to me too. Although, I suspect our club may have pretty limited membership!

 

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QUOTE (JarrodRuggles @ Apr 28 2005, 03:46 PM)
ok...

I THINK,  that the first had two very long tails approximately twice as long as the body. It looks to be about 10 mm long.


I really cant remeber how many the second one had but I think it was also two.  It looks to be about  11 mm long. 

Jarrod

Jarrod-

 

Let's take another look at your specimens to see if there are any remaining clues that have been overlooked.

 

Specimen #1 appears to have rather stout fore wings, as compared to Specimen #2, which appears to have more elongate fore wings. Also, look at the legs of Specimen #1. The middle legs and hind legs are pale, but the fore legs have a dark femur and tibia, and each of the tarsal segments appear to be banded with either dark on light, or light on dark. Also, notice the dark brown veins and heavy cross-veining in the fore wings of specimen #2.

 

Hopefully, anyone following this thread will take the time to return to Jarrod’s photos at this point, and personally verify the above observations. Doing so should help you to make the same kind of observations for any of your future attempts at identification.

 

All right, let’s update the observations:

 

Specimen #1

 

- has wings, so must be the adult stage of some insect.

- wings are held erect above the abdomen, so must be a mayfly.

- wings are clear (or hyaline) so must be a spinner (imago).

- eyes dominate the head, and the forelegs are extremely long, and it has claspers (or forceps) at the end of its abdomen, so must be a male

- has obvious hind wings, as opposed to having no hind wings or minute hind wings

- is perhaps 10 mm. in length, exclusive of tails

- probably had 2 tails

- has relatively short and wide fore wings

- has pale hind legs and middle legs, and dark fore legs except for light banding on each tarsal segment

 

Specimen #2

 

- has wings, so must be the adult stage of some insect.

- wings are held erect above the abdomen, so must be a mayfly.

- wings are not clear (or hyaline), so must be a dun (subimago).

- eyes don’t dominate the head, and the forelegs are not extremely long, and it (probably didn’t) have claspers (or forceps) at the end of its abdomen, so must be a female

- has obvious hind wings, as opposed to having no hind wings or minute hind wings

- is perhaps 11 mm. in length, exclusive of tails

- probably had 2 tails

- wings have dark brown veins with many cross veins

 

So, now that we’ve recorded lots of observations about your mayfly specimens, the identification process is simply a matter of matching the observations to characteristics that have been recorded about mayfly species (in text, renderings, and photographs). My website contains a References page which recommends flyfishing entomology books useful for mayfly identifications.

 

Okay Jarrod, here come the identifications, but I’m going to hedge a bit here for several reasons. 1) The identification were made from a photograph, and 2) I’m not a professional entomologist, but rather, just an obsessive enthusiast. Having said that, here are my opinions, which can be used as script for purchase of a tall latte, as long as you also throw in a couple dollars:

 

I believe Specimen #1 (your mayfly spinner) to be a species referred to as Isonychia saddleri in Mayflies of Michigan Trout Streams by Justin & Fannie Leonard. Since publication (in 1962) of this excellent reference, I. saddleri has been re-classified by taxonomists as I. bicolor. This mayfly species has numerous common names, among which is White-gloved Howdy.

 

I believe Specimen #2 (your mayfly dun) to be a species referred to in flyfishing entomology books as Stenonema vicarium. It was recently re-classified by taxonomists as Maccaffertium vicarium, but I’m not aware of any flyfishing entomology books that have been recently enough published to reflect that taxon. This mayfly species has numerous common names, among them, American March Brown.

 

If anyone has other ideas concerning either of these identifications, please share them with us.

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Wow.... all that from a couple of pics. The second one I thought looked the most similar to what I have called the march browns where I fish. Although I would say the ones I have seen looked a lot more pale or reddish colored. Which I guess may be the light of the picture or just the local variation.

 

Next time I get to go fishing, I really need to look a lot closer at the bugs...

 

Thanks Taxon!!!

 

Chucky

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All right! Thats what I wanted to hear. Thanks a lot Taxon...I was pretty sure the second one could of been a March Brown. Thanks again!

 

 

 

 

Jarrod

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