Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae of Gunnison County, ColoradoCinygmula ramaleyi
Small Western Gordon Quill, Dark Red Quill, Dark Great Red Quill (Dodds) 1923
Updated 20 Nov 2009
Links
On this website:
Cinygmula Introduction
Other Websites:
Hatch Chart for the Gunnison Gorge & Black Canyon from Cimarron Creek Guides in Montrose http://cimarroncreek.com/flyfishing/hatchchart.cfm
Map - Kondratieff, Boris C. (coordinator). 2000. Mayflies of the United States. Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. (Version 12DEC2003). http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/insects/mfly/usa/262.htm
References
Dodds,GS 1923 Mayflies from Colorado: descriptions of certain species and notes on others. Transactions of American Entomological Society 69, 93-116.
Dodds described this species in the genus Ecdyurus, which has been changed to Cinygmula, hence his name as an author in parentheses. Quote from page 101: "The most abundant nymph of South Boulder Valley from 8,000 to 11,000 feet, where it lives among rocks on the bottoms of swift streams, clinging to the surface, among and under them, but not on the surface exposed to the direct force of the swift water. It has also been found in two lakes at high altitude."
Edmunds Jr GF. 1952b Studies on the Ephemeroptera Part II. The taxonomy and biology of the mayflies in Utah. PhD Thesis, University of Massachusetts. 399 pages.
(Quoted from Jensen's thesis) Quote from page 152: "At Paradise Park Reservoir in the Uintah Mountains [Utah], specimens of C. ramaleyi from the cold spring-fed streams entering the reservoir have distinctly amber wings, while specimens from the stream originating as overflow of the reservoir have hyaline wings and are paler and smaller."
Jensen,SL 1966 The Mayflies of Idaho (Ephemeroptera). M.S. Thesis, University of Utah, Utah. 364 p.
Quote from page 158: "Male imagos of this species are distinct from other Idaho representatives in possessing bilobed penes. Size and the amount of amber suffused on the wings, although usually diagnostic for the species, is variable. [See Edmunds quote above] As in common with most species in the genus, variability appears to be quite extreme.
Nymphs of this species occur in small to moderate streams usually above elevations of 4,000 feet. Adults have been reported by Edmunds (1952b) as swarming from late in the evening until dark. They have been collected from August to September."
McCafferty,WP; Durfee,RS; Kondratieff,BC 1993 Colorado mayflies (Ephemeroptera): an annotated inventory. Southwestern Naturalist 38 3, 252-274.
Quote from page 260: "The male genitalia of this species, while clearly diagnostic, place it near C. par. Traver's (1935) key can be misleading, however, because the wings of C. ramaleyi may or may not be tinged with amber. This tinge may actually be due to the variable amount of an oily residue on the wing membrane, as becomes apparent where it leeches out in specimens that have been preserved in alcohol for some time (McCafferty, unpubl.)."
McCafferty,WP and Provonsha, AV The Mayflies of North America Species List http://www.entm.purdue.edu/entomology/research/mayfly/species.html (Version 12Jan2009)
Here is the geographic range and synonyms for Cinymula ramaleyi:
Cinygmula ramaleyi (Dodds), 1923 [CAN:FN,NW;USA:NW]
* Cinygma ramaleyi (Dodds), 1923 (comb.)
* Ecdyonurus ramaleyi Dodds, 1923 (orig.)
* Iron tollandi Dodds, 1923 (syn.)
* Rhithrogena ramaleyi (Dodds), 1923 (comb.)
McDunnough J. 1933 The nymph of Cinygma integrum and description of a new heptagenine genus. Canadian Entomologist 65:73-76.
After describing the new species Cinygma integrum, the author observes some differences in the larvae and adults that have been lumped in the genus Cinygma. As a result he describes the genus Cinygmula and later discusses Cinygmula ramaleyi. Plate 3 on page 76 has illustrations of mouthparts and gills of Cinygmula ramaleyi.
Slater, J.; Kondratieff, B. C. 2004 A review of the mayfly genus Cinygmula McDunnough (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae) in Colorado. J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 77(2): 121-126.
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