Dark Red Quills

This is primarily a Western genus. Cinygmula ramaleyi is the most important species, producing good hatches in the West. Cinygmula reticulata may also be relevant.

There is only one Eastern species, Cinygmula subaequalis, and its importance is minor.

This intriguing species has two distinct colors of nymphs, which were once considered to be different species. Most nymphs are a dark olive gray, but some are a surprisingly bright reddish brown. The red ones were once classified as Rhithrogena sanguinea. There is no apparent difference between the adults of the two varieties.

This intriguing species has received a lot of attention in past angling books. Recent authors suspect that much of this credit was a case of mistaken identity, with Attenella attenuata receiving praise for the hatches of Drunella lata and Dannella simplex. Much of the credit was legitimate and accurate, but this species is no longer thought to be on par with its most popular cousins in Ephemerella and Drunella.

I have several specimens listed under this species, but I'm not positive the identification is correct.

This is by far the most important species of Isonychia. Many angling books once split its credit with the species Isonychia sadleri and Isonychia harperi, but entomologists have since discovered that those are just variations of this abundant species.

See the main Isonychia page for more about these intriguing mayflies.

This species, the primary "Sulphur" hatch, stirs many feelings in the angler. There is nostalgia for days when everything clicked and large, selective trout were brought to hand. There is the bewildering memory of towering clouds of spinners which promise great fishing and then vanish back into the aspens as night falls. There is frustration from the maddening selectivity with which trout approach the emerging duns--a vexing challenge that, for some of us, is the source of our excitement when Sulphur time rolls around.

Ephemerella invaria is one of the two species frequently known as Sulphurs (the other is Ephemerella dorothea). There used to be a third, Ephemerella rotunda, but entomologists recently discovered that invaria and rotunda are a single species with an incredible range of individual variation. This variation and the similarity to dorothea make matching this hatch exceptionally tricky.

As the combination of two already prolific species, this has become the most abundant of all mayfly species in Eastern and Midwestern trout streams.

This can be the first mayfly of the season on high mountain streams. It is the most important species of Cinygmula.

This is one of the two most common species of Rhithrogena.