Sulfur

[pcray1231]

Ephemerella Dorothea, I think. Could have been E. vitreus, but I plucked this guy from hundreds that looked just like him with 3 tails, so I'm figurin he lost a tail. Penns Creek. April 26. Bout a size 18.

 

[PENZZZ]

Pretty sure it's not E. vitreus, the legs aren't barred and the body color isn't right. If it had three tails originally, it's likely Rotunda/Invaria. Can't think of anything else it could be with that body color.

 

[pcray1231]

Agree, but the size seemed awfully small for invaria. And this is Penns Creek, which generally grows bigger than normal bugs for a given species. They were like 18's.

 

[hammertime]

Why don't you think its an olive? Penns has had olives in some numbers every day i'm there.

Unless the color is really off in the pic it has a very olive cast to it. Can't see the bottom though.

 

[Maurice]

hammertime wrote:
Why don't you think its an olive? Penns has had olives in some numbers every day i'm there.

Unless the color is really off in the pic it has a very olive cast to it. Can't see the bottom though.

I was thinking the same thing......#18, not yeller, smokey grey wing. 3 tails. And the color variations of the small olives is vast from river to river.

 

[Chaz]

Not a baetis, they don't have a hind wing. I think it's E. Dorothea. Pale Evening Dun, sulphur.

 

[pcray1231]

I'm stuck between invaria and dorothea, like many anglers before me, lol. Size is the main thing in dorothea's corner. Orangish rust spinners in invaria's corner, dorotheas are pretty light spinners usually. Both vary a lot in color. Invaria varies a lot on size and color!

Still a sulpher anyway you cut it. They were pretty yeller till you got up close and personal with em. The dominant color, watching them as the sailboats passed by, I think everyone would agree was yellow. But as you picked em up and examined, some had a touch of olive, others a tough of orange, some more yellowish white.

Even with the question on whether this particular specimen lost a tail, Baetis varieties can be ruled out due to the large hind wing that it definitely has. So for a BWO ID you'd basically be left with Drunella. The major PA hatch of Drunellas are Cornutas, and like invaria, they tend to be more like 14's or 16's. Add to that that Cornuta's typically occur much later, and that the spinners came back as orangish rust, rather than the blackish olive of cornuta species. If you're going to ignore size, I'd go with Invaria before cornuta.

Drunella Lata is a slight possiblity based on size. But they are usually sparser morning hatches in summer time, these were literally by the thousands in the afternoon.

Which BWO's am I missin?

 

[PENZZZ]

In case you're interested, here's an Epeorus vitreus from the Lehigh River this evening. Like its distant cousin plueralis, the legs are barred. The brilliant body coloration was very obvious as they lifted off.

Jeff

 

[pcray1231]

Wow, I've seen some confirmed e. vitreus's before, but that color is something else on that one. Usually yellowish pink for me. So, maybe a little pinker, but still easy to mistake for invaria if not for # of tails.