Black Quills and Blue Quills

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Scientific Name

Match	Scientific Name
	Leptophlebia

This common name refers to only one genus.

Mayfly Genus Leptophlebia

These are pretty much always called Black Quills and Blue Quills.

Leptophlebia mayflies do not generate superhatches, but their medium-large size and other properties make them a relevant part of the early season.

The information below was mostly discovered in Leptophlebia cupida, the most important species, but it is not known to differ in the others.

Leptophlebia cupida (Borcher Drake) Mayfly Nymph

View 8 Pictures

Collected March 29, 2005 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 6, 2006

Male Leptophlebia cupida (Borcher Drake) Mayfly Dun

View 6 PicturesThis Leptophlebia cupida dun was extremely cooperative, and it molted into a spinner for me in front of the camera. Here I have a few dun pictures and one spinner picture, and I've put the entire molting sequence in an article.

Collected May 27, 2005 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on May 16, 2006

Female Leptophlebia cupida (Borcher Drake) Mayfly Spinner

View 7 Pictures

Collected May 28, 2005 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on May 24, 2006

See 17 more specimens...

Jargon Defined:

Dun: Mayflies have two adult stages. They first emerge from the water as duns (scientifically known as the subimago stage). They then molt into the spinner (imago) stage, in which they mate and die. Sometimes the word "dun" is confusingly used to refer to a brownish gray color in fly tying materials.

Molting: When aquatic insects with hard exoskeletons (like mayfly and stonefly nymphs) grow bigger, their exoskeleton does not grow with them. Instead they grow a new, larger one underneath and shed the old one when it's too small. This process is called molting.

Spinner: There are two winged stages of adult mayflies. They emerge from the water as duns, molt on land (usually) into their fully mature stage, spinners. As spinners, they mate, lay eggs, and die.