Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Plauditus dubius: A New Species of Small Minnow Mayfly


Above, a photo of the small minnow mayfly nymph that I found at the Doyles River yesterday.  It is not Acentrella turbida, and it is not Acentrella nadineae.  It's, for me, a new species: Plauditus dubius, and this is a female.

I'll try to get good microscope photos of this so I can make the full case.  In the meantime -- two of the features we use for identification are visible in this photo: 1) there is a narrow median band on the caudal filaments (tails), and 2) tergites 2 and 6 have a single, median spot while the other tergites have paired submedian spots.  (Please click on the photo below to enlarge it.)


Very exciting!

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