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Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae of Gunnison County, Colorado

Epeorus longimanus
Slate Brown Dun, Dark Gordon Quill, Spotted Epeorus

(Eaton) 1885

Updated 13 July 2011
TSN 100637

Locations Collected

Beaver Creek, East Elk Creek, Gunnison River, Red Creek, Steuben Creek, Soap Creek and West Elk Creek (Argyle and Edmunds, 1962). Also East River, Avery Creek and Coal Creek.

Good Links

On this website:
Introduction to Epeorus

Notice the gills meet at the midline, similar to Rhithrogena





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References

Allan, J.D. 1975a. The distributional ecology and diversity of benthic insects in Cement Creek, Colorado. Ecology 56:1040-1053. Abstract

Allan,JD 1981 Determinants of diet of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in a mountain stream. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 38, 184-192.

Allan,JD 1987 Macroinvertebrate drift in a Rocky Mountain stream. Hydrobiologia 144, 261-268.
     The author studied Cement Creek in Gunnison County during the spring, summer and fall of 1975-1978. He found that drift densities (number of animals per 100 m³) was 10 times higher at night. 24 hour totals approached 2000 animals/100m³ in mid-summer down to 500 animals/m³ in the fall. Quote from the abstract: "Ephemeroptera, especially Baetis, dominated the drift." He found that benthic density (number of animals/m² from streambed samples) was the best predictor of 24hr drift rate for Epeorus longimanus. Adding discharge to the calculation (a stepwise regression) did not improve estimates of E. longimanus in the drift.

Argyle,DW; Edmunds,GF 1962 Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of the Curecanti Reservoir Basins Gunnison River, Colorado. University of Utah Anthropological Papers 59 8, 178-189.
     Quote from page 185: "This species is often found with E. albertae in riffle areas. It seems, however to be more tolerant of cold water and usually achieves greater elevation in its distribution. In this particular drainage, it was found at only one station above the distribution of E. albertae. In Blue Creek it was found at 8360 ft., while E. albertae reached only 8300 ft. in the same stream."

Carlisle,Daren M; Clements,William H 2003 Growth and secondary production of aquatic insects along a gradient of Zn contamination in Rocky Mountain streams. Journal North American Benthological Society 22(4), 582-597. Abstract and entire paper

Dodds,GS 1923 Mayflies from Colorado: descriptions of certain species and notes on others. Transactions of American Entomological Society 69, 93-116.
     Discussed as Iron longimanus.

Eaton AE. 1883-1888. A revisional monograph of recent Ephemeridae or mayflies. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Second Series, Zoology 3:1-352, 65 pl.
     Described as Iron longimanus.
Page 245 of Eaton's 1885 description of the mayfly Epeorus longimanus in the genus Iron Page 246 of Eaton's 1885 description of the mayfly Epeorus longimanus in the genus Iron

Edmunds,GF; Allen,RK 1964 The Rocky Mountain species of Epeorus (Iron) Eaton (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 37 (4) 275-288. PDF

Flecker,Alexander S; Allan,J David; McClintock,Nancy L 1988 Male body size and mating sucess in swarms of the mayfly Epeorus longimanus. Holarctic Ecology 11(4), 280-285. PDF

Gilpin,BR and Brusven,MA 1970 Food habits and ecology of mayflies of the St. Maries River in Idaho. Melanderia 4:19-40. PDF

Harper, P.P. and F. Harper. 1997. Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of the Yukon. Pp. 152-167 In: H.V. Danks and J.A. Downes, eds. Insects of the Yukon. Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods). Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

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.

Lehmkuhl,DM 1968 Observations on the life histories of four species of Epeorus in western Oregon (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 44(2):129-137. PDF

McCafferty,WP; Durfee,RS; Kondratieff,BC 1993 Colorado mayflies (Ephemeroptera): an annotated inventory. Southwestern Naturalist 38 3, 252-274. PDF
     Quote from page 261: "Edmunds and Allen (1964) noted this was the most widespread of the western species of Iron and that it evidently is not found cohabitating with I. albertae." They report Gunnison County Museum specimens from the Crystal River, East River and Gunnison River.

Peckarsky,BL 1983 Biotic interactions or abiotic limitations? A model of lotic community structure. In: Dynamics of Lotic Ecosystems. Eds: Fontaine III,Thomas D; Bartell,Steven M Ann Arbor Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 303-323.

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

Brown, Wendy S. 2004 Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) of Gunnison County, Colorado, USA
www.gunnisoninsects.org