Mayfly ID...Quill Gordon?

[dudemanspecial]

I am trying to get better at mayfly ID. Is this a quill gordon? There are 2 tails. Most of them appear to be size 12 with a couple 14. There were a bunch of them on a vehicle at work. I am in the city of Pittsburgh so they had to come out of the Monongahela river. This was today.

 

[afishinado]

I am trying to get better at mayfly ID. Is this a quill gordon? There are 2 tails. Most of them appear to be size 12 with a couple 14. There were a bunch of them on a vehicle at work. I am in the city of Pittsburgh so they had to come out of the Monongahela river. This was today.View attachment 1641230794

Hex hatch >

hexagenia bilineata - Google Search

 

[Bamboozle]

I'm not an entomologist but a size 12 or 14 is a bit on the short side for a Hexagenia bilineata. They are over 1.25" in length plus they are not native to the Burg...

A Quill Gordon is below. It looks like your bug right down to the BIG eyes and the size corresponds even if it is a bit late in the year for emergence:

Male Epeorus pleuralis (Quill Gordon) Mayfly Dun Pictures

9 close-up macro pictures of a Male Epeorus pleuralis (Quill Gordon) Mayfly Dun, collected from the Beaverkill River in New York on May 7, 2005.

www.troutnut.com

 

[DomR]

Slate drake, big but not as big as a hex. Should come off really strong now through a little after Fathers Day.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Nice. I grew up on the Allegheny River, and my wife was a 4th generation Pittsburgh’er.

I believe that mayfly is what you’d call an Iron City Done. 😃

 

[redietz]

It looks like your bug right down to the BIG eyes

All male mayflies have big eyes.

The veins in the wings are completely wrong to be a QG, as is the time of year.

I think the OP may have mis-estimated the size, and that afishinado is correct.

 

[Beweav]

Is this the same thing?

 

[redietz]

Is this the same thing?

No

 

[dudemanspecial]

Is this the same thing?View attachment 1641230799

The bug in your picture has 3 tails. These had 2.

 

[dudemanspecial]

All male mayflies have big eyes.

The veins in the wings are completely wrong to be a QG, as is the time of year.

I think the OP may have mis-estimated the size, and that afishinado is correct.

I thought the timing was definitely off for a QG as well. I may have been off a little on the size, maybe the biggest ones were 10's, but there were definitely quite a few smaller bugs. I should have put a pencil or something there for reference. They were all much lighter / olive in color than pics I have seen of the Hex but I know that can be regionally dependant. Thanks for your input.

 

[dudemanspecial]

Slate drake, big but not as big as a hex. Should come off really strong now through a little after Fathers Day.

Could be. These were definitely not as dark. In fact the picture I took made them seem darker than they actually are.

 

[afishinado]

Way too late and warm for Quill Gordons. Plus they need more pristine water to be present (the Monongahela doesn't qualify!).

Here's a thread from our pal Sal with lots of pics (and even a poem!) about the warmwater hex hatch >

Hexagenia Limbata (Hex): "Pennsylvania's Forgotten Hatch"

Hexagenia Limbata (Hex): Pennsylvania's Forgotten Hatch "In somber forest, when the sun was low, I saw from unseen pools a mist of flies, in their quadrillions rise, with sudden glittering - as when a crowd, of stars appear, through a brief gap in black and driven cloud, one arc of...

www.paflyfish.com

 

[krayfish2]

Timing is waaay off for QG. This is the time of year you see the various drakes, larger golden stones and hex.

 

[mt_flyfisher]

Sorry for the late reply, but I finally got a reply from an entomologist who said:

“I believe this male imago to be Hexagenia bilineata”.