Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae of Gunnison County, ColoradoDrunella grandis grandis
Western Green Drake, Green Drake(Eaton) 1884
Updated 11 Feb 2010
TSN 101370
The big mayfly is a Drunella grandis, the other big guy in the upper right corner is a Drunella doddsii, the little mayfly near the top is a Baetidae or small minnow mayfly. They were photographed and returned to West Brush Creek in early August 2008.
Locations Collected
East River, Cimarron Creek, Myers Gulch, Curecanti Creek, Blue, Creek, Soap Creek, West Elk Creek, East Elk Creek, Steuben Creek, Beaver Creek, Gunnison River (Argyle and Edmunds, 1962). Persons interested in the species will also find it in the Taylor River, Coal Creek, Copper Creek, East River, Brush Creek, Cement Creek and Slate River as well as many other streams. Widespread in our area and the western United States.
Notes
Drunella grandis grandis is one of three subspecies of Drunella grandis in the United States. D. grandis grandis is found in the central and southern Rockies. Drunella grandis flavitincta is found in the Pacific Northwest, and Drunella grandis ingens is found in the Northern Rockies as well as the Sierra Nevada Range.
Links
On this website:
Drunella Introduction
Other Websites:
References
Allen,RK; Edmunds,GF 1962 A revision of the genus Ephemerella (Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae). V. The subgenus Drunella in North America. Miscellaneous Publications of the Entomological Society of America 3, 147-179.
Argyle,DW; Edmunds,GF 1962 Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of the Curecanti Reservoir Basins Gunnison River, Colorado. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 59 8, 178-189.
Discussed as Ephemerella grandis grandis. Quote from page 186: "This species was quite common in most streams in the area. The emergence of this species concludes in the first part of July with the principal emergence taking place during the last two weeks in June. The nymphs were taken in riffle areas, generally close to the bank."
Ball,SL; Hebert,PDN; Burian,SK; Webb,JM 2005 Biological identification of mayflies (Ephemeroptera) using DNA barcodes. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 24 3, 508-524.
They include Drunella grandis from South Boulder Creek in Colorado in their barcodes based on the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI). It was most likely the same subspecies we have here, Drunella grandis grandis.
Buchwalter,DB; Cain,DJ; Martin,CA; Xie,L; Luoma,SN; Garland,JT 2008 Aquatic insect ecophysiological traits reveal phylogenetically based differences in dissolved cadmium susceptibility. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 24, 8321-8326.
Buchwalter,DB; Luoma,SN 2005 Differences indissolved cadmium and zinc uptake among stream insects: mechanistic explanations. Environmental Science and Technology 39, 498-504.
Colburn,T 1982a Aquatic insects as measures of trace element presence in water: Cadmium and Molybdenum. Aquatic Toxicology and Hazard Assessment: Fith Conference, ASTM STP 766, J.G. Pearson, R.B. Foster, and W.E. Bishop, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials, pgs 316-325.
The author studied macroinvertebrates in Coal Creek and the Slate River near Crested Butte in 1979. She found that Drunella grandis bioaccumulated cadmium and molybdenum the most of the aquatic insects she studied. Both live and dead insects sorbed cadmium, indicating "that cadmium uptake is more than a physiological process."
Colburn,T 1982b Measurement of low levels of molybdenum in the environment by using aquatic insects. 29, 422-428.
Dodds,GS 1923 Mayflies from Colorado: descriptions of certain species and notes on others. Transactions of American Entomological Society 69, 93-116.
Eaton AE. 1884 A revisional monograph of recent Ephemeridae or mayflies. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Second Series, Zoology 3 Group II of the genera. pages 77-152.
The Reverend described this species as Ephemerella grandis on pages 128 and 129. Quote from page 326:"The natural length of the wings are shown by the hair lines." [While I copied the pdf file at 100% for this description and illustration, I don't know the scanning resolution, so I don't know if the wing lengths are accurate.] See Eaton's "Description of the Plates" for more information on his labels and methods.
Kiffney,PM; Clements,WH 1994 Effects of heavy metals on a macroinvertebrate assemblage from a Rocky Mountain stream in experimental microcosms. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 13 4, 511-523.
Lugo-Ortiz,CR; McCafferty,WP 1995 Annotated inventory of the mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Arizona. Entomological News 106 3, 131-140.
Magnum,FA; Winget,RN 1993 Environmental profile of Drunella grandis Eaton (Ephemeroptera: Ephemerellidae) in the Western United States. Journal of Freshwater Ecology 8 2, 133-140.
Abstract: "In 898 stream stations in 11 western states, Drunella grandis Eaton exhibited broad physical habitat niche dimensions but moderate to narrow water quality niche dimensions. Nymphs were found over a wide range of channel gradients and substrate types, with tolerance to fine substrates as long as there were some rocky substrates. Occurrence was mostly random in relation to riparian vegetation. Nymphs were found in waters with a wide range of alkalinities, but frequency was low when alkalinity exceeded 250 mg/l. Drunella grandis commonly inhabited streams with conductivity over 400 µmhos/cm but was rarely found when it exceeded 800 µmhos/cm. Nymphs were found in higher than expected frequencies when sulfates were less than 50 mg/l, lower than expected when sulfates are 75-250 mg/l, and were not found in waters with sulfates over 250 mg/l. Distribution was near random over all states sampled with occurrence higher than expected at elevations between 6,000 and 8,000 feet."
McCafferty,WP; Durfee,RS; Kondratieff,BC 1993 Colorado mayflies (Ephemeroptera): an annotated inventory. Southwestern Naturalist 38 3, 252-274.
Quote from page 265: "Drunella grandis was divided into three western subspecies by Allen and Edmunds (1962b), with D. grandis grandis typically found in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The other subspecies are found further west or north, and no intergrades have as yet been reported from Colorado."
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:
Drunella grandis grandis (Eaton), 1884 [USA:FN,NW,SW]
* Drunella grandis (Eaton), 1884 (comb.)
* Ephemerella glacialis carsona Day, 1952 (syn.)
* Ephemerella grandis Eaton, 1884 (orig.)
* Ephemerella grandis grandis Eaton, 1884 (stat.)
* Ephemerella sp. No. 1 Mayo, 1952 (syn.)
McCafferty,WP; Wang,T-Q 2000 Phylogenetic systematics of the major lineages of Pannote mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Pannota). Transactions of American Entomological Society 126 1, 9-101.
Needham JG. 1927 The Rocky Mountain species of the mayfly genus Ephemerella. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 20:107-117.
Discussed as Ephemerella grandis.
Nehring,RB 1976 Aquatic insects as biological monitors of heavy metal pollution. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 15 2, 147-154.
Poff,NL; Wellnitz,T; Monroe,JB 2003 Redundancy among three herbivorous insects across an experimental current velocity gradient. Oecologia 134, 262-269.
Short,RA 1983 Food habits and dietary overlap among six stream collector species. Freshwater Invertebrate Biology 2:132-138. PDF
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse (NAWQA) shows this species is present in Gunnison County. Data as of 1Sep2005
Ward,JV; Kondratieff,BC; Zuellig,RE 2002 An Illustrated Guide to the Mountain Stream Insects of Colorado. 2nd ed. University Press of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. 219 pages.
Has an illustration of the larvae Figure 41 on page 91, also reproduced on this website: http://waterknowledge.colostate.edu/drunella.htm
Ward,JV; Stanford,JA 1990 Ephemeroptera of the Gunnison River, Colorado, USA. In: Mayflies and Stoneflies. Ed: Campbell,IC Kluwer Academic Publishers, 215-220.
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